May 26, 2008

Traveling Light

You take for granted that you can check at least one bag when you fly on an airplane, but that is about to change, starting with American Airlines. They’ll be charging a $15 baggage fee for most passengers who travel with baggage. And that’s the fee for the first bag. As of two months ago, a second bag will set you back $25 on any major airline.

May 19, 2008

Stuff: A More Complete Picture

The key word in Fear of Nothing is stuff. If you’re drowning in stuff, or just slowed down by having stuff in the way, Fear of Nothing is designed to help you reach a more productive understanding of stuff so that you can keep the stuff that helps you and get rid of the stuff that’s in your way. But Fear of Nothing focuses on just one little corner of the world of stuff. Annie Leonard has created a 21-minute movie that shows a more complete picture of stuff — where it comes from, where it goes, and why we all seem to have so much of it. It’s based on the high-school economics model of production and consumption, but fills in the more unsavory details of the process.