Activist Annie Leonard wanted to convey to kids that excessive consumption harms the Earth. So she made a simple web video. Now, millions have watched her film, The Story of Stuff, and thousands of teachers around the country are using it as a teaching tool in their classrooms. New York Times environment reporter Leslie Kaufman joins The Takeaway with a look at how a web phenomenon is helping to make up for textbooks that can't keep pace with evolving scientific understanding about the environment.

For more, read Leslie Kaufman's article, A Cautionary Video About America’s ‘Stuff’, in the New York Times.

You can view here The Story of Stuff:

We are all learning to make sacrifices for the sake of the environment, but one thing Americans have a hard time cutting corners on is their toilet paper. This national desire to have soft, fluffy, and strong paper is having an environmental impact and millions of trees are harvested every year to create Charmin, Cottonelle, and other premium brands. Leslie Kaufman of the New York Times' environmental desk has an article on the delicate subject in today's paper.

For more on the environmental impact of "premium" toilet paper, read Leslie Kaufman's article, Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests in today's New York Times.