The Story of Stuff
Fri, 15 May 2009 11:04 am – Posted by Mandy | 3 Comments
As Vicki noted, the television has undergone it’s most major makeover since it changed its colours in the mid-50s: it’s been supersized.
Yes, yes, across the world, these jumbo TVs dwarf cramped rooms, so much so, that viewers need to gently fold themselves into the room’s recesses, only to be relieved of their pins-and-needles by their TV’s cinematic scale and its newly acquired attention to detail.
We’ll need to super-size our homes, to fit out super-size televisions. Not surprisingly, it seems that the US is leading the charge – the size of the American house has doubled since the 1950s.
Our willingness to biff our old TVs for these energy-hogging plasma screen TVs has left environmentalists & conservationists reeling. Not only will our old televisions fill our landfills, these new plasma screen televisions can use as much electricity as a refrigerator, sapping our hydro-plants and power stations.
Alarmed at the energy-sucking nature of these televisions and fearing rolling black-outs, Californian energy commissioners have mooted the idea of restricting the size of screens, something that is deeply unpopular with the right who think that choice should lie with the consumer.
But when buying a gizmo like this, is the average consumer thinking about the eviction notices issued to our endangered species by our hydro-dammers intent on sating these energy-hungry appliances? Or the environmental and labour laws of the umpteen countries that assembled and manufactured these televisions? Or are they looking at the price, and swallowing their environmental conscience?
So how did we get into this place whereby buying a piece of stuff can feel so bad?
Pour yourself a cup of tea, and listen up to this lady.
www.storyofstuff.com
Enjoyed viewing the story of stuff. The whole ‘built-in-obscelescence’ things gets me. Every time I buy an i-pod it routinely dies after two years. It’s the same situation with my printer, it’s cheaper to buy a new one than buy ink cartridges. I have friends who put their printer on the roadside, cause in their view there was no point in keeping it, if they could get a new printer and ink cartridges. I just can’t believe the phenomenal amount of energy it would have taken to manufacture/assemble/deliver this printer only to see it unwanted & binned 6 months down the track
And don’t buy a hybrid car - keep your current car going as long as possible. If the car companies really cared about the environment, they would make really durable, easy to fix cars. Much like some of the cars of the 1970s, but with better rust-proofing.
The aussies have come up with a solution to recycle our tellies - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10575692