Does America use 30% of the world's resources? I suspect that this is true, and this could be why.

[Zalatix]

America is extremely wasteful. We buy cheaply made goods which break down quickly, and then we throw most of it away and buy something new. We buy clothes that wear out very fast, compared to clothes of years past.

Even if it doesn't wear out break down, something new comes along every 6 months that is shinier, faster (when it comes to computers), bigger, badder, sexier, more fashionable. So we also often throw perfectly working stuff away, too. Most often, right into a trash can and off to the landfill.

Whether it's plastic bags and cars made here or consumer electronics made outside the country, America is in the grip of the monster called planned obsolescence. If you get it now, it's out of style in 6 months or less, and if it's not out of style it's often broken or malfunctioning inside of a year.

So, yeah, America probably does use 30% of the world's resources, and the above-mentioned problems would be a very big part of that.

So, what is the solution to this? How do we cut down on our resource usage footprint?

Put an end to planned obsolescence. We don't need a new iPhone every year. Consumer electronics should be built to last, which may cost more, but we'll buy it less often. Making these goods in American factories would be a big step toward achieving this, but that doesn't solve big business's desire to make stuff cheaper and more prone to breaking. How do we legislate or force businesses to build things to last? Big question, but we need to solve this if we're going to cut down on our usage of resources. Making goods that last longer would also reduce the advantage of making it overseas. Remember, the stuff has to be shipped here, and fewer goods being shipped makes the cost of shipping weigh more heavily on the price of the good.

Which brings me to my next point. America uses a HELL of a lot of oil. Some of it comes from shipping goods across the ocean. But by far our biggest problem is our consumption of oil for transportation. And probably cheap plastics, too. Like all those grocery bags. We could replace those bags with more durable and reusable cloth bags, but don't tell the public that, they love the convenience of plastic bags. (Who cares if the ocean doesn't like it so much? <-- ) Of course, building alternative energy cars involves little short of a political world war with the oil industry, but it's a war that's going to have to be fought if we want to cut down on our usage of fossil fuels. And if we want these cars to be built to last we're gonna need to make them here - and we're going to have to put an end to the concept of planned obsolescence, or even making them here won't work.

Next, we need to start with bumping up our national campaign to reduce, reuse, and recycle. If you need a new car you simply trade it in, right? So why not do this with ALL consumer electronics? For instance, if you are a computer user engaged in the endless hardware/Windows/Video game arms race, then why can't you turn in last year's video card for a discount on today's newfangled card? Now imagine if we do this with TVs, whole computer systems, etc. - nationwide. We could do it without legislation but rather tax incentives. Imagine the sheer number of used consumer electronics that could be diverted from landfills and re-sold cheap to others such as schools or charities. Even in California, with its e-waste laws, we could do more to put used consumer electronics back into use, before they need to be recycled. Oh and [url=http://www.salon.com/2006/04/10/ewaste/]when we recycle these electronics[/url] we are actually killing people and hurting the environment. Recycling consumer electronics here, with our strict pollution laws and workplace safety laws, would actually save the LIVES of people around the world... and the environment.

Pollution cannot be ignored, either. We need the highest emission standards for all factories that produce resources and goods for the American market. We need to wake America up to the fact that there is no such thing as cheap energy or cheap goods, when it comes to allowing heavy pollution: we pay for it in other ways. Industrial pollution has poisoned our fish with mercury, ruined many of streams and even made some people's water catch on fire. We may not have cities heavily shrouded in pollution like those in China, and we may not have any cities ranked among the top 10 polluted cities in the world, but America can still cut down dramatically on its pollution footprint. However, the biggest thing we can do to cut down on our pollution footprint is to simply waste less.

So how does America use less of the world's resources? We render planned obsolescence... obsolete.

[unlawflcombatnt]

1. Excellent Points

Planned obsolescence is a major problem today. Cheaply & poorly made foreign goods contribute greatly to that.

We absolutely should be recycling computers and parts.

There's been no real benefit to any of the "improvements" in computers since the mid 2000's. All that's been invented are new ways to entertain oneself.

Many things have gone backwards. I could do a computer search for medical articles MUCH more efficiently 10 years ago than I can now. And my computer crashes more now than it did 10 years ago.

Every version of Internet Explorer works worse than the previous one. But most new programs have been deliberately designed NOT to work on those earlier versions. So users are forced to upgrade if they want to stay on the internet, or go to another browser like Mozilla or Google Chrome. Both are faster--especially at downloading unwanted crap into your computer.

Constant "updates" are nothing but a way to improve advertisors' ability to shove their products down our throats. Furthermore, those updates undoubtedly improve the Government's ability to spy on us.

[Zalatix]

6. The PC realistic graphics arms race is especially bad, and hard to stop

You can beat MSIE and the Windows racketeering with Linux, but gaming and entertainment is the real problem when it comes to computers. Even working components have to be taken out and replaced to make your computer capable of running the latest Call of Duty.

Fortunately there's Moore's Law. The same curse that makes PC components obsolete in 6 months also makes them more powerful. Today's iPad rivals the Cray 2 Supercomputer. Imagine the resources put into the Cray versus the iPad. If you have an iPad you are carrying around more power than was wielded by a half ton of computer machinery in the 1980s, powered by a battery. BUT... Moore's Law will continue to make the same progress whether you keep your iPad for 6 years, trade it in after a year, or throw it away in a landfill tomorrow. This fact does NOT invalidate our need to stop WASTING.

The used car tradein approach to "obsolete" components* is a great way to mitigate the PC arms race. On top of that, more expensive components that are built to last a VERY long time, can force not only gaming companies, but also Microsoft and other software developers, to stop escalating things. Need a new iPad? Trade in the old one, copy over the data, and use that to get a discount on the new one. Sell the old one to someone else. Piles of unsold old iPads can be recycled in America using our anti-pollution standards. Hell, maybe this will force computer companies to make their computer parts easier to recycle? We need more innovation in that area.

Consoles, actually, are better at slowing down the arms race. Where PC gaming systems become obsolete in 6 months, a new generation console gets released once every several years, which means if they're made well, their components don't get junked every 6 months.** An entire console system sits in your house for years, and all games are made to work with that system's limitations. Programmers don't demand stronger versions of the PS3 every year - they simply squeeze more performance out of the PS3.



* And I don't agree that last year's video card is necessarily obsolete, but the arms race keeps dictating that it is.

** But they usually aren't. See: the Red Ring of Death on the Xbox 360 and the Yellow ring of death on the PS3.

[Cleita]

2. When I was growing up in the forties it wasn't that way.

We were emerging from the Great Depression and then WWII. We donated our old clothes and household goods, to the Sal. Army or Goodwill. Most of what we bought in the way of furniture and appliances were built to last. We saved things like newspapers and magazines that were recycled. There were companies that bought them by the pound. Our milk was delivered in bottles, which were sent back to the dairy to be reused. We didn't get paper or plastic bags at the market. Instead the markets put our groceries in the cartons or crates that had delivered the cans and packages of things to the market. In turn we used them storage for in the garage or for moving. We could also return them to the market to be reused. Empty drink bottles could be returned for a couple cents that had been charged for deposit. Much of the kitchen waste was recycled in the garden.

My grandmother saved everything, balls of string, paper and old clothes and stockings to be transformed into quilts, crotched doilies and braided rugs. There were no paper towels. We used cloth towels and sponges instead. There was no plastic wrap or tin foil or frozen dinners. That all came in the late forties if my memory is right. It seems it was in the fifties that people started to engage in conspicuous consumption as it was called then.

Many working class families felt they had to have a new car every two year and it just escalated from then on because the manufacturers realized that they had to keep people buying stuff to make money. I know there has to be a balance in there between keeping people working making things and trying to keep our trash in line, but I wouldn't know where to begin.

[Cleita]

3. I forgot to add.

We bought our meat directly from a human butcher, who wrapped it in butcher paper. The supermarkets all had a butcher counter. The paper was saved to be used to start a fire in the fireplace or bbque. There was no styrofoam trays and plastic wrap to dispose of and deal with.

[JDPriestly]

4. Americans waste a lot of money on unwanted gifts.

Think Christmas. You feel you have to buy things for people. You don't have the money to buy top quality for everyone. So, you buy cheap things that wear out quickly and are a joy when opened but not for long after that.

Why don't we rethink gifts?

This is especially true of those things your boss and co-workers give you. They are usually impersonal things. Sometimes you just don't know what to do with them so you pass them on. If you are like me, you have occasionally received a "gift" from someone -- the in-laws, someone that was clearly recycled since it still had the tag identifying the original giver or recipient inside.

When you really know a person, you can give a gift that is meaningful. But let's encourage people, especially companies, bosses, secretaries, etc. to stop giving gifts to people they don't really know well.

"This is a token of my . . . " What? Contempt for the environment?

On edit, and let's ban paper furniture. It's full of formaldehyde and glue, chemicals that we don't want in such immense quantities in our bedrooms. Every once in a while a neighbor puts some broken down piece of cardboard (that's what it really is) furniture out on the sidewalk.

It is a waste of resources, time and labor to make that stuff. And it is unhealthy. There has to be a safer substitute. How about furniture from recycled paper bags. Why can't they make bookshelves and desks for inside use out of those things?

[Zalatix]

5. We can ban that stuff, or place higher taxes to pay for recycling and hazmat disposal.

[The Genealogist]

7. There are a lot of things that have changed

Appliances are not only more poorly made today, they are not designed to be fixed. When I was little, we went and got appliances, TVs, radios and other electronics REPAIRED. Even the TOASTER went to be repaired. We had appliances and other electronics for YEARS. Then at some point, I think it was the 1980s, this all stopped. The electronics would be taken in and my relative would be told "It'll cost more to fix that than to buy new." Onto the junk heap it went.

There are many other things that have changed for the worst. Plastics are FAR more ubiquitous than in the 70s, I think. We used to get soda in glass bottles that we had to pay a deposit for, which we would get back. Heck, kids used to collect them from people, take them back, and get spending money. The bottles were taken to the factory, sterilized, and reused. Again. And again. And again. My dad used to be interested in which bottling plants the bottles came from. He would show me the bottom of a soda bottle and say "this plant hasn't been around for a long time." Now, soda comes in plastic that may get recycled, or may end up in the landfill.

I think we have improved in other areas. I think we use a lot of resources, but a smaller part of them end up directly in the landfill than in the old days. Hell, we used to BURN trash in the back yard! A lot of that paper, today, would be recycled. But there are ways we could do WAY better. We could also, I think, as a country, not consume things and live on a smaller scale. We could be far better at conserving lots of things...furniture, clothing, electronics. We don't need new stuff every time a new ad campaign comes out. For my part, I cannot afford new things, even used things, really. I find that what I have does quite well, really.