Y'all fail Big Time!

[MaxBottomtime]

One of the things my fiancee says she loved about me from the start was that my apartment was uncluttered. I don't think I've owned 100 things in my life.

 

[Garrobo]

Personally, I don't think you could consider yourself a success unless you aquired at least 10,000 'things" at one time.

 

[Hoomi]

One of the things we really need to get away from in our culture is the concept of "disposable" everything. Fifty years ago, most consumer items were designed to be maintainable. Televisions were repaired, cars were maintained, and so on.

These days, it's not just planned obsolescence driving disposing of items, it's open disposability. We are moving more and more towards industries supporting themselves by manufacturing limited use goods.

Most consumer electronics these days are such that repairing it when it fails is more expensive than replacing it. Automobiles are declared "clunkers" when they reach a certain age or mileage, and repairing them is considered a waste of time and energy - just scrap it and buy a new one.

I saw a commercial recently for a new style of mousetrap. It's a rather large (by mousetrap standards) device made of plastic, and the marketing of it states that you catch one mouse with it, and then just throw it away with the dead mouse still inside. No recycling - you really aren't supposed to recycle things with rotting animals inside. Buy it, use it, toss it, and repeat.

When we bought our tent trailer a few years ago, it needed new tires. It was cheaper to buy complete wheel assemblies - rims and tires - than it would have been to get new tires put on the old rims, and there was no program to take the worn-out tires on the still serviceable rims and recycle everything. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with the old ones.

It seems the more we push the idea of a green culture, the more we're presented with resource-wasteful products as our only option. It's all about the bottom line, and more profit is made in the dispose-and-replace industry than it the "Make it to last" industry.

 

[fire_diver]

The problem with the wastefulness of today's world is a shift of costs. It used to be that technology was expensive and the workers time was cheap. Those two have reversed themselves now, so that it is no longer worth repairing most items. Cheaper to just buy a new one.

I like the "100 things" concept. Is it 100 individual things, or 100 types of things? Cause I'm a bit of a bibliophile, and have close to 1000 books alone in my library.

 

[malvarez2]

Man, They keep changing the rules of the game....

I was raised on "He who dies with the most toys, wins!"

 

[Ana]

Having kids help.

My parents had a lot of stuff and suddenly they started to downsize by giving my brothers and I most of their things. When I was young having things was important for me, I needed them. I don't need most of those things anymore. I'm in the short count for retirement, getting a small place with the features that matter was my way. Lack of space forces you to only keep the things that you need. Now is my sons' turn to receive my stuff, they want it and think they need it, then it will be their kids' turn.

For sure a great thread, hopefully young people of today won't fall too hard for the same silly philosophy so many of us did. The worse chapter in my past was the arrival of my first son, my God talk about crap-accumulation, I probably had enough stuff to take care of a dozen babies. Not very proud of that, in less than 2 years I had 2 rooms full of things and no use for any of them, yes I gave it to other mothers but 90% of that stuff should've never been made, much less purchased.

 

[Randy43068]

I don't even try to be "green" anymore.

I try to reduce my consumption and try to reduce what I throw out, but I don't go crazy over it. As much as it makes economic sense, I'll reduce, other than that... I'm no green-weenie

 

[cloudswinger]

Most consumer electronics these days are such that repairing it when it fails is more expensive than replacing it. Automobiles are declared "clunkers" when they reach a certain age or mileage, and repairing them is considered a waste of time and energy - just scrap it and buy a new one.

When we bought our tent trailer a few years ago, it needed new tires. It was cheaper to buy complete wheel assemblies - rims and tires - than it would have been to get new tires put on the old rims, and there was no program to take the worn-out tires on the still serviceable rims and recycle everything. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with the old ones.

It seems the more we push the idea of a green culture, the more we're presented with resource-wasteful products as our only option. It's all about the bottom line, and more profit is made in the dispose-and-replace industry than it the "Make it to last" industry.

The possessions as burden idea is a key point in the Buddhist way of thinking.

There are people who were lamenting the cash for clunkers program, which destroyed usable vehicles and their parts. The 3 R's are in that order for a reason, 1st, reduce the consumption used, 2nd reuse when possible, then 3rd recycle. Recycle consumes the most energy of the 3.

Some places will buy the rims for scrap, and most places have programs for recycle the tires. Or you can try freecycle, where you give away stuff. Someone would take it.

I would think scuba gear would be considered as a set, since there aren't any individual elements that are useful by itself. A BC is not really useful by itself. But unless it's needed for safety's sake, such as redundant regs, etc, extras would be counted separately. Scuba gear does last an awful long time, my husbands reg is about 20 something years old.

 

[webjr]

If you have 1000 things, dont worry! The govt is quickly on the way to taking most of it anyway! We'll all reach our goals before we know it!
Ya HOO!

 

[Randy43068]

The possessions as burden idea is a key point in the Buddhist way of thinking.

There are people who were lamenting the cash for clunkers program, which destroyed usable vehicles and their parts. The 3 R's are in that order for a reason, 1st, reduce the consumption used, 2nd reuse when possible, then 3rd recycle. Recycle consumes the most energy of the 3.

Some places will buy the rims for scrap, and most places have programs for recycle the tires. Or you can try freecycle, where you give away stuff. Someone would take it.

I would think scuba gear would be considered as a set, since there aren't any individual elements that are useful by itself. A BC is not really useful by itself. But unless it's needed for safety's sake, such as redundant regs, etc, extras would be counted separately. Scuba gear does last an awful long time, my husbands reg is about 20 something years old.

Your comment brings to mind how "green" scuba gear is. Almost all of it is repairable for a few dollars of parts. Example, the power inflator. Replacement is less than fifty bucks ( unless you're getting ripped locally ) but can be rebuilt for what, less than $2 dollars of parts? That to me is pretty amazing. A regulator can be completely rebuilt, too instead of being replaced. To me that's pretty "green."