Since its release nearly 18 months ago, The Story of Stuff has been viewed by hundreds of teachers who have in turn shown it to thousands of students. Teachers use this 20-minute online video to supplement science textbooks that barely mention climate change and to spark discussion about our environmental future. On May 11, 2009, The New York Times ran a front page story about the ways this film is supplementing and expanding sustainability education.

But not everyone is pleased. When Missoula, Montana high school teacher Kathleen Kennedy showed the video to students in her 12th grade biology classes, she figured it would be a good conversation starter. “What I wanted to do was get the students to think, not to say this is the viewpoint they should all adopt,” Kennedy said. Yet, one parent objected stating, “This video is essentially a 20-minute infomercial supporting an extremely liberal agenda,” and launched a campaign against the teacher and the film that eventually reached the school board.

Consumer and environment advocate Ralph Nader calls the film, “a model of clarity and motivation.” From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.

According to creator Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable world. Leonard’s inspiration for the film began as a personal musing over the question, “Where does all the stuff we buy come from, and where does it go when we throw it out?”

Seems like scientific learning at its finest when a film can inspire students, teachers, parents, and an entire school board, to debate the role of stuff in their lives, society and the environment.