Annie Leonard is the author of "The Story of Stuff." She tells Steve Paulson what happens to most of the plastic bottles consumers carefully washout and recycle: they end up being shipped to the third world.
PermalinkSubmitted by Jim (not verified) on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 9:32pm
I was right with Annie Leonard cheering her story until she claimed that capitalism and the paradigm of “endless growth” are responsible for waste, and individuals are nothing but sticks in the current.
Annie, maybe you should crack that economics text book and read it now that you’ve dusted it off.
1. Economic growth is an increase in the value of goods and services in an economy. Growth in no way demands or even implies more stuff.
2. If there is no growth in an economy and the population is growing, it MUST be true that average wealth – that is, the well-being – of the population is shrinking. From that perspective, no-growth is hardly an option.
It’s hilarious that you can claim to oppose individual responsibility and also admit to trashing a laptop every year! I don’t know what brand of laptop you buy, but I’m on my fourth in 14 years, and I use the hell out of them. I still own all of them and they all still work. My newest machine is 2yrs old and shows no signs of aging.
If you’re using Apple products as you hinted, all the more hilarious since they cost at least 50% more than an equivalent PC and offer almost no additional function.
PermalinkSubmitted by warren (not verified) on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 6:43am
Regarding "Apple (Macintosh) products as you hinted, all the more hilarious since they cost at least 50% more than an equivalent PC and offer almost no additional function" you may be correct, but then consider the difference between the functionality of riding on a unicycle vs a Litespeed M1 Apex Complete or Trex Fuel EX 8 bicycles. Functionally they all get a person around but offer a lot more in the final analysis.
Apple products provide a longer service life than PCs making their comparative cost closer to equal. Plus the functionality factor puts the Mac into a more "usable" category where more programs are used on the Mac than PCs and shorter learning period for Macs (not to be confused with the number of programs available).
PermalinkSubmitted by Don Pickard (not verified) on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 4:40pm
I heard that in Europe, the law requires that a, say, car company, front load the costs of the car's eventual recycling. This is a great idea IMO. Requiring that that end of life cost be accounted for, and intergrated in the market purchase price would be very capitalistic.
Share
Podcast/RSS
Share
Comments
Economic growth, Stuff, and Laptops
I was right with Annie Leonard cheering her story until she claimed that capitalism and the paradigm of “endless growth” are responsible for waste, and individuals are nothing but sticks in the current.
Annie, maybe you should crack that economics text book and read it now that you’ve dusted it off.
1. Economic growth is an increase in the value of goods and services in an economy. Growth in no way demands or even implies more stuff.
2. If there is no growth in an economy and the population is growing, it MUST be true that average wealth – that is, the well-being – of the population is shrinking. From that perspective, no-growth is hardly an option.
It’s hilarious that you can claim to oppose individual responsibility and also admit to trashing a laptop every year! I don’t know what brand of laptop you buy, but I’m on my fourth in 14 years, and I use the hell out of them. I still own all of them and they all still work. My newest machine is 2yrs old and shows no signs of aging.
If you’re using Apple products as you hinted, all the more hilarious since they cost at least 50% more than an equivalent PC and offer almost no additional function.
Apple Macs
Regarding "Apple (Macintosh) products as you hinted, all the more hilarious since they cost at least 50% more than an equivalent PC and offer almost no additional function" you may be correct, but then consider the difference between the functionality of riding on a unicycle vs a Litespeed M1 Apex Complete or Trex Fuel EX 8 bicycles. Functionally they all get a person around but offer a lot more in the final analysis.
Apple products provide a longer service life than PCs making their comparative cost closer to equal. Plus the functionality factor puts the Mac into a more "usable" category where more programs are used on the Mac than PCs and shorter learning period for Macs (not to be confused with the number of programs available).
Capitalism and sustainability
I heard that in Europe, the law requires that a, say, car company, front load the costs of the car's eventual recycling. This is a great idea IMO. Requiring that that end of life cost be accounted for, and intergrated in the market purchase price would be very capitalistic.
Add new comment