.
Two other things, no one has mentioned carbon offsets (seems really cheap to do from what I've read, about $300.00 a year) and reducing the amount of flying and driving, I do sympathise with people who live in large under-serviced suburbs though, especially in the US where public tranport seems pretty dire.
Elimination of bottled water would accomplish a
great deal. Something like 20 million plastic water bottles go into landfills every single day in the US alone. The Bottled Water industry has done a great job of marketing their product. They are not under nearly the same level of regulations for purity that most municipalities must adhere to, although whether or not the municipalities actually do that is up for debate. Many water bottling companies simply bottle re-filtered tap water anyway while convincing American consumers that tap water is almost "poison".
Fiji Water must have seen the backlash building regarding bottled water and now market themselves as wholly "green" perhaps their source is, but how they can justify shipping water over 9,000 miles for sale in places like LA or NYC. Shipping that distance can hardly be considered green.
Our house has a "whole house" water filter system as an added layer between the municipal source and our tap. Easy on pipes, easy on our bodies. The water tastes great and we haven't bought a bottle of water in over 5 years. In Fla. my wife and I each drink approx. 6 to 8 pints of water a day. I couldn't even compute the total number of bottled water units we DIDN'T purchase over the last five years.
As a society folk in the US are entranced with 'new'
I guess that's why we see the kind of conspicuous waste that moto-moderninst mentions. I find it rathre horrifying as well. It's one of the considerations that pushed me to this career change. And I agree with, Lucifer Sum was it who sez that a lot of change could be wrought simply by educating the next generation to have a better attitude towards conservation.
I do also agree with SDR's wonderings about economy. What would happen if we weren't driven by constant acquisition? Personally, I don't know, but I'd love to find out. I hear on NPR about 'housing starts' being down and that this is a general indication of possible recession and I think...why is it that we must constantly have new construction to fuel our continued existance why is growth, and subsequently overgrowth, neded to maintain our existance? I'd venture to say it's the 'inherent value' concept.
I don'y know how to restructure a world economy but I do know how to turn off a light. So I'll do as much as I can with in the parameters of my own life. Someone else commented that thre's nothing much new said in this big long thread...but tha'ts exactly the point. We do know how to improve our environmental itutaion, but it's just not sexy and 'new'.
I too think, like Olive, that...
I too think, like Olive, that I want to find out what it might be to live without less of what we presently feel makes us wealthy.
Many of us in that case would not have as much, for certain, but not "as much" of what? How one defines oneself is very important, indeed, as are definitions in general.
This has been one of the more interesting threads I've seen on Design Addict in quite some time, and I wish I could add more. A dramatic change in thinking of how we relate our lives to the world is in order.
We will have to think in terms of limits. Ask ouselves hard questions, and answer them honestly. If we are to survive, the old rich may need - in a large sense - to be the new poor.
http://arts.envirolink.org/interviews_and_conversations/WendellBerry.html
Olive you make excellent points throughout this thread
This topic is not sexy and new,
but rarely are the tried and true.
Simple things work best
we just need to put them to the test.
If everyone just turned off a light
it would greatly reduce our planets plight.
Combine one's errands and your trips
consume a lot less, and get a grip.
Less consumption would not be so bad
an unlivable planet, now that makes me sad!
Recycle, Refurbish and Reuse
the answers are, for us to choose.
With my apologies to poets everywhere, I couldn't resist.
Can I add my 2 cents
on bottled water...
The situation seems to be similar everywher, uncontrolled bottlers, for water that ususally is inferior to the municipal water supply. One big bottled water brand here in Canada states on their bottles that it comes from the municipal water supply of a large Toronto suburb...
What usually get me going is the fact that so many bottles mention that they are recyclable.
I hope this is based on ignorance and not on ill will. I can understand that manufacturers of PET (the material bottles are made off) mention to the bottle blowers that the material is recyclable...and they are right. Some people would call it down-cycling but that's not completely true. Many of us in the plastic industry know better. So the bottlers buy bottles that are recycled and by using glued on labels (where they could use shrink labels) or by printing lot numbers on it or whatever else that can not be taken off, spoils it for everybody. I suspect that they just don't know that you can make a fully recycled bottle, completely useless with a few drops of glue. In any case they nicely print a recycling logo on the label, with or without the specification that it is recyclable where those services are available...I was born in a culture where water was something to cook with or to wash yourself. As strange as it might sound, when you ar thirsty you have a beer...so, I have never purchased one single bottle of water but for those who do, I would suggest one of two things. If the brand does not matter, choose the one with a shrink label (not glued) and each time you see a stamp or glue on a label with the recycling logo on it please write the bottler and tell them that in spite of passing on the information he got from the bottle manufacturer, these bottles are not recyclable because of the glue on the label, or because of the coloured stamp...we could start that buterfly wing mouvement that ends upp in a storm!
Thanks Koen for your ideas...
Thanks Koen for your ideas about brands,
to start a discussion on brands...?, Not in mind, but it sounds as a good idea?
I want to answer to what you said, but I don,t want to run this too much out of topic.
Perhaps other thread as lucifersum suggested.
D I V E R S I F I C A T I O N
Don,t worry, there will be space for everybody.
Sdr said,,,,,,,,,,
what would happen if fewer disposable objects (non-durable goods) were made -- the implication of which is that fewer manufactured goods in toto would be produced each year.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Why do you care so much about it?
There will be always 50cts stuff, so don,t care for that economic area, not the producer nor the consumer, factories and employees will produce them, and the people that will need to buy them will have it. Long life for the 50cts. Crap!
Forget about it and work for people see the obvious, for the common sense.
And about it I see a problem: what you/we say it,s obvious and common sense,
but I am very afraid that could happen this:
This common sense stuff, this stuff with ,,inherent value,,, as becames to be more and more recognized as this, will increase the ,,percibed value,, and finally end as a snobbing and luxurious stuff. ...Lots of historic examples!, what to do not to fall into this?
That,s part of the other economic side of the coin.
Common Sense and Poetry
Love the poem Big TV man. it's marverlous. And Gustavo....very very very good points in your post above.
COMMON SENSE
That's what 99% of this is all about. However it's really difficult these days to ask people to use it. To stop reflect for a few seconds and make a considered choice on whether they really need the item in their hands, if they could turn off that light or get their water from the tap and use a reusable container.
We are so hand-fed on convenience in our current society. Short sound bites in the news, everything prepackaged in individual servings, diet pills that promised weitght loss with no work...we are LAZY and we want it all handed to us.
Getting past this is the greatest hurdle of the process. And it's a big big hurdle...we have to change societal standards first. I have no idea how we do that. I can only change my own life.
This book was very eye-opening for me on that viewpoint.
http://store.altenergystore.com/Books-Classes-Webinars/General-Renewable...
am i the only one that...
am i the only one that thinks it IS sexy?
The employees and co-workers that ride their bikes 45min
across BKLYN. show up on time and smiling. as opposed to the those
often late after sitting in traffic. Stressed and apologetic.
Bring a travel mug and pack a healthy lunch...
or the guys that complain that we ran out of styrofoam cups, after
using a half dozen already and complaining about the bad expensive lunch
at the deli....angry and overweight.
i'd rather see Brad Pitt standing in front of a wall of plastic bottles holding a
small filter system than Donald Trump smelling of cologne and hair-care products.
(but he wouldn't give a rats-ass anyway)
A shame we need celebrity endorsement, but it works.
another employee has a beautifully designed glass bottle that came with her new filter
system. (came with two). i saw others writing down the website. (good design does work!)
NYC successful Greenmarkets, especially Union Square. A much healthier crowd than the
average Key Food shopper with its massive frozen food section.
I don't look like someone that has a garden irrigated by a natural spring. More selfish
than enviromental. I drive an hour to get to it. It's a nice pleasant way to spend the
weekend off the grid after a stressful work week in the city.
Thank you
Olive for your kind words, To Rockland, yes I wholeheartedly agree, It is sexy, and certainly more natural. I think it will always be, or should I say the way forward will be in the small steps.
Spreading the word, like the old Breck Shampoo commercials (yes I get that using an environmentally questionable product as an example is sketchy at best) but anyway as the commercial extolled us to do. If you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, pretty soon we're talking about some pretty big numbers, and then you've got a movement.
It won't come about by saying "no more cars tomorrow", but rather small stuff, turn off the lights when you leave the room, reusable cloth bags, combined trips, less useless stuff.
I also think introducing children at an early age to the natural environment is very important. Give them a connection to the land so they have respect and concern for it, more of a land connection rather then a LAN computer connection.
I also like the bicycle examples by Rockland. I've heard it said that the 2 wheeled bicycle is just about the most effiecent, completely low impact mode of transportation ever invented.
Teaching kids
this past Saturday we hosted a class on PV (solar electricity) and one of the attendees asked us if we would design a class specifically aimed at 7-13yr olds. He's a 'home schooler' and wants to bring kids from his home schooling group.
I jumped on the chance. If kids learn now what we've done wrong so far and what needs to happen for the future, then they will invent the tools we'll all need to get there. Being able to pass on sensbile ideas and watch the kids brains run with that will be so awesome. That's what makes all this 'sexy' for me. Watching that cartoon light bulb click on in people's minds is such a thrill.
.
Olive, what is better to do, keep old white goods which may not be that efficient and use them until they die or replace immediately with new ones, whats the trade off? I would have thought its a better use of resources to hang onto the old ones, but am not sure.
I live alone and have a big fridge but really only need a bar fridge.
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