Is there an economic model that transcends the current one:disposable consumer goods + war ?
and if yes, how do we get there?
Have been thinking a lot lately about all the talk around "bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US", recycling and efficient commuter vehicles. Some of this seems like a "low tar cigarette" or "fat free ice cream" in that it doesn't really change behavior that may be unhealthful. It simply provides a more acceptable version.
The first part of the eco triad is "Reduce" (eg 'reduce + re-use + recycle'). Of the 3 it is the most efficient change to make. Reduce consumption, harvesting, mining, drilling, burning, producing, disposing. But it is also the most difficult one because the present economy needs transactions and the destruction of goods. If Gillette sold a razor that never goes dull (think ceramic blade) instead of one that is designed, engineered and test to make sure it goes dull at 4 shaves they would get to sell exactly ONE razor to every customer. And I throw that out as an example but what gets produced and sold is almost all like that AND it comes in plastic bags, cardboard boxes, styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap.
The one model that compares is the 1700s. Pre-1820. Artisans and craftsmen. Custom made shoes. Nothing considered disposable. Nothing wrapped in one-use containers. Boats and windmills powered by wind. Mills powered by water. Is there a modern version of that or, could there be?
= new reply since forum marked as read
> As long as someone, somewhere, is making disposable plastic widgets
> that cost a dollar, nobody's going to pay $20 for a steel widget that will
> last for the next hundred years.
If the life of the steel widget is significantly more than the life of the plastic
widget then initially there will be a small number of takers (the ones who
are fortunate enough to have a completely disposable "$20" in the event
that it doesn't work as sold). Once the widget has proved itself to those
people, the word spreads far more quickly these days than it ever used
to and so the take up can be surprisingly rapid.
No, it's never going to get 100% of the market but it's surprising how much
the "You're saving *how* much by doing that?" reaction cuts in, the "Buy it,
use it, dump it" mentality starts to break down - not just for that product
but across a much wider range.
*That* is the key to getting more people living in a less wasteful manner.
>> a razor that never goes dull (think ceramic blade)
My SIL has a set of ceramic knives and I said that if she ever managed
to break one (her family has ways of breaking things that I consider
almost indestructible) then I'd love to have the fragments ...
