No Easy Answer...
I noticed two articles today on Treehugger.com which were only two apart but did not mention one another. I found it odd as they highlight the difficulties facing anyone who cares about creating less waste and trying to live ecologically minded. The two articles were as follows:
and
It clarified for me, at least, the need to always think of second and third order effects as, often, those are the effects which have the most impact. Sure, seems like software is a great idea to help reduce paper use...however, to use software, we must have hardware. As software changes, hardware does too. Increases in effectiveness in computers drive an increase in E-Waste and the cycle continues.
I point this out not to say that, since nothing is perfect, we should do nothing, but only to remind myself that there are no easy solutions.
posted by Adam at 1:24 PM
3 Comments:
Adam, thanks for your blog. Every time I visit, I find food for thought and contemplation. You have an original way of looking at things.
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/index.html
I was thinking about buying a new laptop when I saw a film about Ed Burtynsky's work photographing Ewaste and other industrial landscapes in China. In the link above, click "China" and "Recycling." Now I'm trying to figure out how to avoid gadgets that need replacing every 4 years. Am I willing to give up my ipod? Hmm.
The second article seems promising. The Army should adopt the same kind of corporate mentality. The amount of wasted paper that goes into something as worthless as a x-mas leave memo really pisses me off. Multiply that cost/waste by the 100's of other paper forms the Army uses on a daily basis and we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted annually on paper, not to mention the environmental effects. There needs to be more pressure on the higher ups to cut down the waste.
Post a Comment
<< Home