[lug] Anyone else hate to get rid of old equipment?

[Bear Giles]

Actually for most of human history you didn't just dump stuff in a pit, the
scraps were reused and reused again.  It's only an extremely affluent
society that can afford to toss things away, and an even more affluent
society that can make crap that has to be thrown away because it has such
low residual value.  That's why the emphasis is on Reduce and Reuse first,
with Recycle a distant third.  That doesn't mean you have to make things
cheaply, it means that you need to have more value from what you do make.

(BTW I can't understand how anyone in Boulder, with all of the research
labs, could have any doubt about the reality of global climate change.
Maybe the cause is still open for debate, but not the existence of sustained
and measurable change.)


On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 3:19 PM, Maxwell Spangler <
maxlists at maxwellspangler.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 2010-05-25 at 13:18 -0700, Dru Whitledge wrote:
> > Jeeze, I hate to even contemplate incurring the  wrath of the tea
> > party or the right wing reptilian republicans -- but isn't this a
> > perfect function for "bigger government" -- at least a little bigger
> > -- at  minimum managing the information part ??
> >
> > Free markets (and I like free markets, I really like 'em) can and
> > will do the job eventually, but  are obviously (and historically)
>
> Thousands of years of humanity have gone by and we see the same
> problems: waste, corruption, tyranny, greed.
>
> Will a shift of responsibility from government to business via
> unregulated markets change this?  Will a shift of responsibility from
> business to government via more regulation change this?  I don't know..
> Probably depends on the specific industry and situation.
>
> The true solution is individuals recognizing right and doing so,
> recognizing wrong and avoiding it, and showing leadership to others by
> sharing these values and guiding others to follow them.
>
> This discussion on recycling our computers is important because it
> allows each of us as individuals to make a choice to do the right thing.
> If we start there and continue it with leadership -- sharing and guiding
> others to do the same -- we will effect real change in society.
>
> Somewhere along the way people join government and accept slow pace,
> waste and ineffective behaviours and it gets in the way of their ability
> to do the right thing.  Somewhere along the way people join business and
> accept spending less money on safety, accident prevention and accident
> recovery and it gets in the way of their ability to do the right thing.
> Years later a coal mine explodes and workers die or an oil rig explodes
> and the situation cannot be contained.  People blame the business,
> people blame government, but I wonder whether these would have happened
> if individuals defined their values and stuck to them despite the
> organizations they work within.  Doing this is the real challenge.
>
> To me, how we deal with small issues today like recycling computers sets
> the stage for how we deal with bigger challenges in the future.  I
> choose to consume less, reuse and recycle, and I choose to dispose of
> toxic things in the best way I know.  I do so because I recognize it is
> right.
>
> Imagine what the world would be like if they had my conviction and went
> on to operate coal mines and oil rigs.  Could we deal with less
> government regulation? Absolutely!  But unfortunately I observe that my
> convictions are in the minority theses days so I'm satisfied with a fair
> amount of regulations to keep less principled people in check.
>
> PS. Glad to be part of a group of people who invest in such spirited
> discussion!
>
> --
> Maxwell Spangler
> ========================================================================
>        Linux, Unix and Database Administration
>        Currently: Boulder, Colorado
>        LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellspangler
>
>
>
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