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I came up with a way of looking at material objects a few years back when I was making a move cross-country and needed to streamline my belongings to fit into a tiny closet in a tiny house I was about to move into and share with a partner. “Totems and Tools” –  I said those two words like a mantra as I scanned the heaps of my things for items that were imbued with great meaning – items that somehow carried within them the vibrations of years of memories and fragments of people I loved – even pieces of myself. These items I called “Totems”. While the “Tools” were those things I could not live without – that were integral to my day to day survival. This computer I’m using being one of them. If you look at the things you own you will see that many can be categorized as either a Totem or a Tool (in some cases as both) and everything else is just STUFF.

Why is our culture so obsessed with stuff?

Shortly after Ebay debuted as the upscale darling of the recycling world, they put out a brilliant ad campaign they called “The Ebay It Campaign”. With a Buddhist playfulness this commercial ad campaign cleverly keyed into the riddle behind our society’s obsession with all things material. The message was “It” doesn’t matter what “It” is we all want “It” and we are all committed to finding a way to get “It” (and in this particular case Ebay is the one who will give “It” to you). But what if we were able to replace “It” with something truly valuable?

This issue jumps into all things STUFF and we begin with the concept of value. When the stock market crashed in 08’ people were dumbfounded as to how we fell into such an abysmal nadir. Today that confusion has turned into rage as people gather from Wall Street to Seattle in protest of our country’s criminal shift in values.

Our cover story shows how easily value can be set in this country when a red paperclip was eventually traded for a three bedroom house. In this issue we invite everyone to reset their values without waiting for Wall Street and Congress to do it for us.

We begin with the infamous viral video “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard to lay down the framework of our exploration. In Leonard’s video she breaks down the system of stuff into its 5 major categories: Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal – pointing out that this linear track callously overlooks people, environments, and the future of our planet. The missing elements are part of what E. F. Schumacher , author of Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered, called “natural capital”.

In this Issue we will explore the parts of the system that have been kept hidden and also delve deeper into each of the sub-streams of stuff – from the psychology behind hoarding, to the insanity of Las Vegas trade shows, to the stoic words of advice from the world’s only “Homeless Billionaire”. By Christmas, we hope, at least, you will have a whole new take on your holiday shopping.