The Story of Stuff

The author of "Story of Stuff" grew up in Seattle, worked at Greenpeace and now lives in Berkeley. That should quickly give you a feel for the political angle. She is, however, quick to criticize the single mindedness of many NGOS that are so focused on their single issue that they miss the systemic problems. She also criticizes the narrow focus of consumers. Americans consume a huge amount of "stuff". They think they are helping the environment by recycling, but they would help much more by not consuming so much in the first place. Spending more hours to buy more stuff does not make one happier.
In understanding the story of stuff, she attempts to trace all the inputs needed for various "things". Something as simple as a T-shirt has a wide supply chain. The people stitching and shipping the final product our obvious. However, there are also those involved in growing fibers, producing chemicals and tools, manufacturing tools, and many other areas. Electronic devices have so many different parts coming through different layers under a shroud of secrecy that it becomes almost impossible to know where they came from.
She devotes considerable time to attacking trash incineration (even talking about the odyssey of Philadelphia's ashes.) She also has no kind words for PVC (not just pipes - the nasty stuff is pretty much anything that has the nasty odor when you get it.) She sees significant problems in our system which lets corporations externalize many costs (especially with regards to the environment.) Producers should bear the burden of taken care of the waste that they have "given" to consumers. (However, for climate change initiatives, she advocates making the emissions count against the conumer's "quota", rather than the producer.)
In all the book is half "call to arms" for political activism and half an odyssey into exploring how we get our stuff. Both point to the fact that we have a lot of stuff in America while supporting an endless supply chain for better or worse.