A lot has been said about the environment, global warming and our impact on the planet. Governments and corporations attempting to step up to the plate to assuage our fears. We humans have a tremendous ability to think and rationalize anything and omit unpleasant things like facts. We create religions to give self-importance without backing it up with anything substantive, and similar to that we bluster about how we have to make changes because we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and future generations without considering abstract notions like logic and reason. A lot of the proposals sound noble and beautiful, but if you think them through you will realize that it is part of a very big lie. It is important to note that I am not referring to the damage we are doing to our planet (which is not in dispute), but rather the belief that we are doing something about it. Our current society is incapable of 'going green' and our governments must know this. In a nutshell, our world economy is running downhill and cannot be stopped without crippling today's way of life.
An illustration of this is the automobile. Physically we have the ability to build a car that lasts for much longer than we see today. However, economically we do not have the ability to build a car that lasts, because we need you to buy a new one sooner than that. The automobile industry is a cornerstone of our economy, we saw what happens when people stop purchasing cars. It is a downward cycle that quickly spins out of control.
The same can be said of many facets of the modern world. 'Fast Fashion' encourages you to buy the latest trends at the cheapest prices every season regardless of the environmental impact (which is huge). Apple, Android and Windows, among others are at some point chronologically in an unending arms race. We need the latest version x.0 now. Where does yesterday's fail version go? We all know but we choose not to think about it.
There is a very hypocritical dichotomy going on at this very moment. On one hand we preach the 3 R's, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, not to be confused with the other 3 R's we are failing at (but subject to a different article), meanwhile on the other hand our culture tells us to buy everything new. With almost every electronic device and appliance, textile and tool being far cheaper to replace then it is to fix or maintain. The shoes you are currently wearing are most likely not even fixable. A cobbler is a dessert now, not a profession. TV repairmen do not exist and it is entirely believable that with the advent of the electric car auto-repair will become marginalized as well, reduced to replacing tires and brakepads but once the engine fails, it will be more economical to swap it out for a new one.
You may or may not have heard of OLED. They are the latest development in TV's and will be out sometime in the 4th quarter most likely (corporate speak for late in the year I guess). The O stands for organic and it refers to the light-emitting diode (LED) which will be made of organic compounds allowing it to be much thinner and bendable. How organic compounds allow for thinner and bendier I am not sure, just know that it does. This is fantastic, very cool stuff. Foldable, rollable screens that are lighter and potentially more efficient are things I see in movies and the little boy in me is ecstatic. The concerned, green thinking environmentalist in me (he has a small voice and like the rest of us is rarely heard) is thinking what about all the plasma's, LED's and LCD's out there now? Where do they go? And will I be able to see one on the reality show 'Pawn Ninjas' in 2085? Probably not. Did we not just get rid of the old type televisions? To tell you the truth I am kind of bored of the OLED's now, I am holding out for the next thing after that, I am sure it will be even better.
At the turn of the last century you could buy a cast-iron apple peeler that would last you 100 years. I do not know what shows like 'Pawn Wars' or 'Antique Ninjas' will be about in the 22nd century because nothing we build today will function at that time. If I had to bet I would say 19th century apple peelers. The term 'Fast Fashion' should be used for all products not just clothes. As the hill gets steeper we are starting to run even faster. We should be slowing down but it does not appear that we are. Is there a solution? Yes, logically there has to be, but it might need to be catastrophic for us to notice.
