"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Sustainability
Pursuing continuous economic growth precludes sustainability. Planned obsolescence, celebrity obsession and retail therapy are the diseases not the cures. Products should be durable, safe and repairable. Features and "apps" have replaced durability and dependability resulting in nothing more than a garbage problem. Social innovation shouldn't contribute to the ever growing piles of crap we now produce.
Views: 20
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Comment by Cian Gregory Accuardi Shelley on March 4, 2010 at 6:20am
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that lovely little word "repairable" i only realized today how important repairability is. it should seem so obvious
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Comment by Jeremy Cohn on March 4, 2010 at 7:01am
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I would disagree. Plenty of products and technologies have been developed that are sustainable and profitable. There is no difference between biodegradable bags and plastic bags, just one doesn't require a land fill. It's just a matter of finding where we can make unsustainable practices sustainable. Growth in services also doesn't need to preclude sustainability. Thousands of markets in sustainable products are waiting to be discovered, the digital age means that millions of pounds of dvds, cds, players, books, etc. don't even have to be made. All of the waste associated with information is on the way out, who knows where we'll find new ways to save energy and resources?
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Comment by F. Blaine MacKinnon on March 4, 2010 at 7:40am
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There is a great difference between profitability and continuous economic growth which requires consumption for consumption sake.A good doesn't have to be intentionally inferior to be profitable to produce.
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That's true, backpack companies and boot companies regularly offer warranties that their product will last a lifetime. They sell based off the fact that consumers will trust the brand and then buy their product (which is usually fairly expensive) and maybe buy other supplementary products. Inferiority is not required for profitability, but my point is that inferiority doesn't necessarily preclude sustainability. Not everyone can afford high-quality products that will last and produce no waste, but my hope is that in time low-quality goods will be more eco-friendly.
Technology will always grow to replace old products and people will always want the newer model, but we can be sustainable by properly managing older products through recycling or biodegradation. One of the big problems is cars, manufacturers design reliance on the weakest part so you'll inevitably have to replace your car, or numerous parts. If we make the move in the US to smaller/lighter cars then maybe competitors can start to remove parts, make cars lighter and simpler. If we switch to electric then there are fewer moving parts, if we move to fuel cells then you don't have to worry about battery waste.
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Comment by Nick Heyming on March 4, 2010 at 8:30am
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Ever read Cradle to Cradle?
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I haven't read that but looking at the blurb online it sounds good. This is the point, as we advance in our scientific knowledge of plants and organisms humans are becoming better able to recreate what nature can do. Newer technologies will allow us to have smaller impacts. Even oil drilling has reduced its impact on the environment (though burning it is still just as bad) through leeching and in situ drilling.
The reality is that per capita carbon emissions have dropped in the US over the past several years, the problem is that there are so many more of us. Economic growth and sustainability don't have to be at odds. The questions of population growth is another story.
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The cars should still be repairable as part of the operation. New cars builders extort owners due to dependence on ludicrously expensive parts which can only be serviced at high costs to the owners. An example is the small circuit boards that cost more than an entire computer.
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True, but more and more we're seeing the democratization of manufacturing. It's becoming much easier for small engineering firms to design a part or product and then contract a manufacturer to build it. In the next decade I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of small startup companies that make replacement parts for those small components.
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now if we really can democratize manufacturing in that way then we've won half the battle. i haven't seen that happening in my life, but i sure hope it is.
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Cradle to Cradle tries to reclassify durable goods like cars, furniture, and electronics as services instead of owned goods, where you lease them for their productive life and then the manufacturer takes them back and recycles the valuable materials into newer products.
It is difficult to concieve of because its so far from our current wasteful model, but it makes more sense than throwing all those valuable chemicals into the dump.
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