tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312736954468978064.post8787365564347229401..comments2024-03-28T01:51:22.367-03:00Comments on Not Buying Anything: Individual Change vs System ChangeGregg Koephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09349453216733070775noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312736954468978064.post-23325175784780934362018-08-22T01:17:55.026-03:002018-08-22T01:17:55.026-03:00Karen,
The denial industry sure hasn't helped...Karen,<br /><br />The denial industry sure hasn't helped. Couple their influence with politicians and business people with no integrity, and it is a dangerous situation. We have lost many, many good years and opportunities. <br /><br />Wet wipes, like most of what consumerism offers, are completely unnecessary. Imagine what a 10 year pile of wet wipes would look like. Meanwhile, the muslin cloths keep on going. One makes sense, one does not. Why do we do things that don't make sense? The evils of advertising? Gullibility? Are we getting less intelligent?Gregg Koephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09349453216733070775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312736954468978064.post-41788718683313344612018-08-21T05:10:25.961-03:002018-08-21T05:10:25.961-03:00I agree that manufacturers ought to be held a hell...I agree that manufacturers ought to be held a hell of a lot more accountable than they currently are. Misleading or straight out lies on advertising about their product should be a finable offence. Packaging and how recyclable/disposable it is should also be something the manufacturers are accountable for. Having said that I also totally think we all need to hold ourselves significantly more accountable than some of us do; after all we are the ones with the wallets that can remain closed and feet that can walk away from products that we deem not up to scratch. I swear that I despair sometimes at the mentality of folk. Now we're in the sixth extinction I can see a number of individuals taking themselves out of the gene pool first before the rest of us succumb. That sounds mean I know, I'm just overwhelmed by how much has gone wrong and how much we could've (and should've) collectively done to avoid the issues we're now facing. <br />As for wet wipes....pffft. I bought a dozen smallsmall c squares ten years ago in preparation for our first baby. They have seen their way easily through daily wiping of 3 babies and have continued to provide good service even now when a wetter wipe is required for the children (or their parents!). Throw them in the wash, hang them in the sun and they're good to go. Common sense :)Karennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312736954468978064.post-52628993378552037962018-08-21T04:15:26.959-03:002018-08-21T04:15:26.959-03:00Terri,
Things are indeed getting surreal. We liv...Terri, <br /><br />Things are indeed getting surreal. We live in very strange times. Interesting, but strange. Like the volcano idea, but not sure how that would turn out. Also, how would we get all our trash to the volcano? Can we throw people in there, too?Gregg Koephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09349453216733070775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312736954468978064.post-73897438110947150822018-08-19T19:20:57.704-03:002018-08-19T19:20:57.704-03:00Thanks Alex for the article that Gregg linked. It ...Thanks Alex for the article that Gregg linked. It was a good read. Gregg I totally agree, we can't blame the individual; the victim of marketing manipulation. But that is precisely what the marketers want us to do. Keeping the focus on individuals, keeps the focus off "them" the real culprits who are packing all that money into their bank accounts. It's the same thing with wages. Suppress the wage, keep it really low, then the individuals on the ground are preoccupied with fighting each other for jobs thus keeps attention off of the top players.<br /><br />The Guardian article mentions that progressives feel isolated. We often do. I believe that is deliberately instigated too. Divide and weaken. Divide and conquer. And it works.<br /><br />This quote by Robert Heede you included says it all for me. It's worth repeating. "I as a consumer bear some responsibility for my own car, etcetera. But we're living an illusion if we think we're making choices, because the infrastructure pretty much makes those choices for us."<br /><br />There are some things I want to do that would further reduce my footprint, but the infrastructure and money system prohibits me from making those changes. At times it really upsets me.<br /><br />In some ways I am actually creating a larger footprint by doing things that are supposed to be reducing it! Like recycling. I have to drive over 10 miles to take my recyclables. From there they are trucked to a facility 13 miles away. After sorting they are sold to a contractor who hauls them even more miles. From there they are shipped out to places that can make products out of them. There is a lot of delusion about recycling. Everyone here knows it, but the general population does not. trying to talk to them about it gets them defensive.<br /><br />We need to invent a better plastic if we are going to use it. It needs to get to be bloody expensive so it is not as easy to waste it.<br /><br />I have another idea. I don't tell it in public because it might sound stupid. But all chemicals are made from something we mine from the ground, right? Yes, even our food and clothes are made using minerals. Plus all the machines that make everything are made from minerals we have mined. We don't we just toss our bales of trash into an active volcano, nature's incinerator? It would get all mixed up in there and atoms would bond and cool, then we could make more stuff out of all the new minerals. I got the idea while studying volcanoes a few years ago. Let me know what you think.<br /><br />Life is absurd. The longer I live the truer that is for me. BTW, I don't use wet wipes.Terrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13353098535307566034noreply@blogger.com