Planned obsolescence. 99% of stuff is thrown out within 6 months of purchase.

[arikara]

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

[madaboutharry]

1. Thank you for posting.

This is a very interesting. I hope others are clicking on the link and viewing the entire film.

It has given me much to think about.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. kick

to watch at home, later.

Curious to see it, because I know that 99% of what I buy does NOT get thrown out. Except, of course, the packaging it comes in. I would bet that if you dated everything in my apartment, 50% of it is at least 20 years old. Hell, I still have my first teddy bear that I got 54 years ago.

[Betsy Ross]

3. Great video

Be sure to read Another Way which discusses actions we can all take.

My husband is a master recycler and we compost so between the two of us, we don't have more than 5 pounds of "garbage" a week. Using our bikes and public transportation, we fuel our one car every 6 to 8 weeks.

It is a paradigm shift to consume less, seek local sources. Try not to be smug about it, but lead by example.

[pipi_k]

4. Not in my house!!!

I even keep makeup past the time when "they" say it should be thrown out.

We keep stuff as long as it'll last, and try to repair it if it breaks...

[noiretextatique]

5. thanks for this important post

:kick:

[bvar22]

6. We are no longer "Good American Consumers".

In 2006, we moved to The Woods.
We planted maintain a large veggie garden, berries, and fruit trees.
We also keep chickens and honey bees.
We almost never buy something NEW.
If we can't make it ourselves, we buy 2nd hand or salvage (directly from previous owners when possible) and make it work, or do without.

This is a committment and a process.
Next year, we will consume even less.

[The Straight Story]

7. kick (nt)

[arikara]

8. I've noticed that its usually the converted

who click on anything like this. I'm the same as the rest of you... I drove my car for 23 years, my washing machine is into its 20th year. Clothes and furnishings come from garage sales and I wouldn't be caught dead in a walmart. The odd time I've bought something new it turns out to be crap anyhow.

Hopefully though this message will touch someone who isn't aware of the cycle of consumption. I think its really well done, and gets its point across very effectively in a short period of time.

[tavalon]

9. Not in my house

It's quite often repurposed. One of my husbands fancies himself a MacGyver kind of fella. Sometimes he is, sometimes, well, not so much.

[AdHocSolver]

10. Practically everything today is DESIGNED to be UNFIXABLE.

They want you to replace everything. It is designed to wear out or break down in a short time, and replacement parts are unavailable, or require specialized tools or techniques that few people have or can afford.

In the good old days, one could buy a pair of fine leather shoes that were repairable so that you could wear them for years. When the heels wore down, you took them to a shoe repair shop, and for a few bucks, they replaced the heels, shined them up, and they were like a new pair of shoes. Today, the shoes are made of plastic, poorly assembled with glue, they come from China, they wear out (actually, fall apart) in six months, and are unrepairable. In fact, the fit is as lousy as the construction. Finding a pair that are reasonably comfortable takes me a couple of hours, and I almost always have to buy foam inserts or they hurt my feet.

Electronic equipment is designed to be unrepairable. In the old days, many parts were general purpose, so replacement parts were made in large quantities for a reasonable price. Circuit boards were usually "single layer" so that a technician with simple soldering tools could replace parts without too much difficulty.

Nowadays, almost all the circuitry is manufactured on a single integrated circuit chip with enough leads to excite a centipede. It is a specialized chip that is produced in a limited quantity before the design is changed so that the new chips are incompatible with old equipment. The circuit boards are multilayered requiring expensive specialized soldering tools and techniques. In most cases (by design), it doesn't pay to fix the stuff. Oftentimes, it is impossible to fix the stuff.

What is the main purpose for consolidating so many functions on a single chip (which makes it impossible to repair)? The cost of making a complex chip, once the design is fixed and the automated equipment set up, is little more than the cost of making the simpler general purpose chip. Adding "features" increases the cost to the manufacturer by only a small amount, but then they get you to pay a lot more for the "new" features. The cost to manufacture that $90 cell phone is little more than the cost to manufacture that $20 cell phone.

A bonus to the manufacturer is that if one part of this complex part goes bad, then the whole device becomes unusable.

And, don't get me started on car repair.

[Posteritatis]

15. Slightly OT, but your username doubles the quality of this post

I'm getting the impression of someone irritated at how unfixable-by-design stuff is going ahead and fixing it somehow anyway. I don't know if that's true, but I like the idea. ;)

One of my dad's friends is an electrical-engineer hippie who never left the sixties; he won't use technology he can't build at least a simple version of from base components. (Once he can build something, he feels comfortable purchasing a generally better commercial version of it; he gets the principles and groks his purchase as a result.) He uses, ah, much less simple technology than you'd think. Impressive, gloriously eccentric guy.

[Maru Kitteh]

11. Not in this house! Seriously, who could afford to do that?

[mikeytherat]

12. I fix it, mend it, and keep it going.

I am a Bad American.

mikey_the_rat

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. My "clunker" is about 4 decades old and I won't be replacing it

My old Saab model 96 (like the one below) just keeps going, and going, and going, and going. It's indestructible. The Swedes really knew how to build durable cars in the old days.

[mikeytherat]

16. Here's my actual clunker:

At 23 years old, it is just about ready for vintage tags.

mikey_the_rat

[Posteritatis]

14. I try to be the opposite

Saves money and, frankly, I find the contortions I go through to keep some things upright or operating to be fun sometimes. It's brain candy if you've got the right mindset. (The McGyvery involved in my previous computer - to say nothing of the desk it sat in - was something else at times.)

[KittyWampus]

17. Our upright freezer gave out after FORTY years last month. Our ice machine is still working

after FORTY years and the repairman who last fixed it confirmed they don't even make them like ours any more.

Our SEVENTY year old Garland 6 Burner/Grill Stove was bought USED in 1955 and still works like a charm. The specialist guy who came and serviced it a couple of weeks ago dated it to 1920-1930.

[slay]

18. Very cool

thnx for sharing :hug: k&r