Frequently Asked Questions

More About Us

What is The Story of Stuff?

The Story of Stuff Project started as the online viral sensation The Story of Stuff, and has grown into a movement working to shift the way we make, use and throw away Stuff. Read our story to learn more about this amazing Community!

How can I donate?

Thanks for your interest in making a donation! Click here to make a donation using our online form.

What is Catalog Choice and how does it relate to Story of Stuff?

Catalog Choice is a free junk mail opt-out service that reduces paper waste, protects your privacy, and helps simplify your life. As of April 2015, Catalog Choice is now owned and operated by The Story of Stuff Project. Donations to Catalog Choice help keep the platform running in addition to supporting the broader work of the Story of Stuff Project.

About our movies

Who made your movies?

Our animated Story of… movies were made in collaboration with Free Range Studios. Find director and production information for all our movies on each movie’s page.

May I screen your movies at my church / school / community group / conference?

Yes! All of our work is covered by a Creative Commons License to encourage sharing. Our CCL means that you can share and screen the movie as much as you want as long as you’re giving credit to the Story of Stuff Project, not changing or editing the content of the film, and not making money off of it. Please register your screening (even if you’re not sure about the details) here.

May I screen your movies at my product/business launch event?

Our movies were designed to be free for educational use, but our Creative Commons License does not allow our movies to be shown as part of a profitable enterprise.

I represent a nonprofit/charity/NGO/government agency and I want to play The Story of… movies on my website.

Given that yours is a nonprofit, your use should complete fit within our Creative Commons License: so go right ahead and stream them on your site! The best way to display the movies on your site is to embed our YouTube videos. Here’s how to do that.

1. Go to http://storyofstuff.org/movies/ and navigate to the movie you are most interested.
2. On the movie page, right-click on the movie display.
3. Select “Copy embed code.” It will look something like this: <iframe width=”980″ height=”511″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/9GorqroigqM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
4. Copy this code to your website.

We’d love to see it on your site! Drop us a note here with the URL.

I’m with a small business and I want to show The Story of… movies on my website.

Our movies were designed to be free for educational use, but our Creative Commons License does not allow our movies to be shown as part of a profitable enterprise.

I want to translate a movie.

Thank you so much for your interest in translating – it is SUCH an important way to spread this story around the world. We are glad to say that all of our movies are available for translation on Amara. This is a crowd-translation site that is free for anyone to use – and it syncs with the YouTube player. To find the movies, just navigate to http://www.amara.org/en/profiles/profile/storyofstuff/. Select the movie you are interested in helping with, and dive in with your translation! Not only does the site offer a full-featured audio-captioning dashboard, but you can also meet other translators of your language! Thanks for your interest in spreading the word!

I have an idea for a movie or a collaboration.

We’re thrilled to hear that you want to put together a video to get your message out! Online storytelling is a great way to spread the word about so many critical issues. At present, The Story of Stuff Project cannot take on new projects. For more resources on cause-related video take a look Free Range Studios’ fabulous website. We wish you the best with your work and thank you so much for all you do!

Getting involved

I want to get involved.

Thanks for your interest in helping us build a world that is more sustainable, healthy and just! Visit the landing pages for our campaigns to Unbottle Water and Stop Plastic Pollution

I want to work/volunteer.

We are thrilled that you would like to be involved in work that upends the take-make-waste systems to build a world that is more sustainable, just and fun! We post all job openings on our jobs page as well as on Facebook and Twitter. As a very lean organization, we unfortunately do not have the capacity to take on volunteers at this point. This may change, so definitely check our jobs page out in the future!  

What kind of product should I buy?

As an organization, we do not endorse or recommend specific product choices. Instead, we encourage you to learn more about the practices and politics you are supporting when you make a purchase, shop according to your values, and to buy less and live more.

Get in touch

I am a student and I want to interview you for a class assignment.

While we’re always excited to hear from our students exploring consumption and waste issues, due to the size of this Community (1 million!) relative to the size of our staff (fewer than 10!), we are not able to help with student interviews, research or writing projects. We wish you the best of luck with your project, and hope that you’ll continue to dig deep and learn about how we can rewrite The Story of Stuff to build a better world!

I want to share the awesome work I’m doing with my project / organization / website.

Please tell us all about it! Use this form to tell us your Story. If you would like to be featured on our blog, please caption your entry with “Guest Blog Submission” and write your remarks in a blog or journalistic style.

I want to meet with Annie or have her come to my event.

You can reach Annie at annie [at] storyofstuff [dot] org.

I want to invite The Story of Stuff to my conference or event.

We’re honored you’d invite us to be part of your group’s conversation about how make, use, and throw away Stuff. Please email info@storyofstuff with the name, date and format of your event, how many people you are expecting, and any information you may have about your organization’s speaking fee.

I work for a newspaper / online news outlet and I’d like to request an interview with one of your staff members.

We’re thrilled that you want to talk Stuff!  For interview requests, please write to our Campaigns Director Sam Pearse at sam [at] storyofstuff [dot] org. Include your publication (including URL),  your deadline and a brief overview of what you’d like to discuss. We’ll get in touch right away!