Consumerism

Firstly protecting the environment is very important to me, however I think it must be protected and not seem like it is being protected. To me cleaning up and limiting pollution to our seas is still high on the list however you don't hear much about that these days. Maybe because something can actually be done about it. Instead we go after the invisible boogeyman that will require a never ending supply of public funds.

The government, big corporations and special interest groups would love for you to "listen and believe" while in the same sentence will provide you with helicopter money, credit purchase options, new environmentally friendly products for you to purchase and just in case you have any money left there will be a myriad of NGOS and not-for-profits guilting you to part with your livelihood.

SIDE NOTE: your wage is to you, what catching a sabertooth tiger was to a neanderthal 10000 years ago. Yet we seem to part with it so easily. I bet the neanderthal wouldn't be taken in by flashy disengenous sales techniques.

I was having a look at a tablet, must be 3 years old, that works perfectly, looks great, except you can't update the browser any further or the operating system, no longer supported. It makes me furious to see this piece of equipment that must of been just shy of 1000 dollars to purchase almost ready to throw in the bin, for the sole reason that the software is out of date. Really? The software out of date? Are you trying to tell me that programmers proceed with updating technology without considering the economic and social cost of their actions, totally bereft of engineering ethics? Can you imagine if engineers did that? What the cost would be to society? You couldn't even imagine it. Imagine the cost if we decided to change all the pedestrian signals to female ones just because or change all street lights to leds (where the globes can't be replaced).

Currently the world is in a bit of an economic slow down, so we have a bit of easing of the pressure of mass produced products flooding the market, however that will not last forever. The main problem with these products is planned obsolescence, and mobile devices seem to be the most obvious culprit today, although there are many others (i.e. vehicles and clothing).

Sustainable Power

So what does this have to do with global warming? Basically we would like you to stop using so much power so we can use more power to produce products that require you to use more power. Makes sense right?

The truth about sustainable power sources is that they are not sustainable. In fact we would have to cover the country with wind farms and still have to worry about outages. We simply cannot produce the amount of power that you electricity junkies require with sustainable energy (at least not with a centralised grid). So much so in Australia we are heading for a power shortage if we do not start building plants in the near future.

If everyone (tree huggers included) honest about reducin emissions today. They would advocte for nuclear power stations to commencement today.

SIDE NOTE: nuclear power strategy is already in the works thanks to the new planned subs, let me assure you that before completion those subs will be nuclear.

Centralised grid

Energy costs a fortune in infrastructure (copper & plastic) and voltage drop to push around the country. I have personal experience in the extending electrical reticulation to areas in Australia and understand this quite well. So not only does it require an enormous capital out lay for sustainable energy production, you have to somehow get it to where it is needed.

I have been involved with developments where solar was heavily used which greatly reduced the demand on the grid, so much so the authority was concerned about revenue from these areas, and there in lies the problem. Sustainable production is more effective when you don't have to push it for kilometers. However nobody can make any money from it past its initial capital cost and perhaps maintenance over time. This is why the government are concerned with big scale projects which ultimately won't be viable.

Dishonesty of Global Warming

Aside from the obviously disengenous attempts at getting people to listen & believe, I will not be able to take mainstream global warming ideology seriously until I see corporations and govermemts follow suit. Of course this is not part of the plan for them. Environmentally responsible practices, development and industry should be maintained for the purpose of engineering efficiency.

The engineering ethics that are generally observed by most fields, seem to be lacking in areas of software, electronics and new tech. Which to me is the symptom of a move towards a technocratic society, where guys like me in a white coat will tell you what you need to think and you will do it because... well, white coats.

So when companies see the value in producing a product that lasts more than 3 years or a technology that can be sustained for 50 to 100 years, then maybe I'll take it seriously. Progress in the name of progress is what is fueling rampant consumerism. Few people will give up there never ending need for mobile devices, graphics cards, coffee machines, cars, game consoles and the list goes on.

I take more time now before purchasing some more rubbish that will end up at the tip. If I can reuse or re-purpose something I will. But let's face it neither the government or the corporations want you to stop consuming.

LB
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for the Australian government, Canberra.