In a finite world
Emma Liu’s letter is very close to the point, but from the perspective of somebody 70 years older it could go a great deal further (Letter, May 29, page 8).
My generation went through childhood during the Great Depression and World War II. Few of us had new clothing, toys or books; what we got was hand-me downs from older siblings, cousins or parents. As a teenager I used and mended socks that my father wore before I was born, when he was in the navy.
In that environment everything was reused many times before it was recycled, with clothing being turned to paper and paper turned to packaging. Worn-out shoes were resoled, not discarded.
We would not have dreamed of buying the latest version of Air Jordan or Adidas shoes and throwing away the one-year-old pair. A pair of shoes that I still use has gone through more than 2.5 million steps — about 2,000km — and is not yet ready for the scrap heap. If the soles were replaceable it might yet double its useful life.
Never mind the current urge to replace every cellphone as soon as the “next generation” becomes available — a habit that encourages manufacturers to design devices that have a one-year lifespan even though they should last three to five years. They make more money as long as consumers are willing to play that game.
Personal computers used to be made to last more than five years; now each new generation obsolesces the previous one every two years or so, and they are made to last no more than three years.
Yes, to be honest we must recognize, as a colleague of my father said about 70 years ago, that “if people start mending socks the economy would collapse,” but that is largely based on the silly notion that profit growth in real terms will last forever, something that cannot happen in a finite world.
We are now suffering because that finite world cannot cope with all the trash we have discarded.
Liu suggests that we take the bus more often. I would suggest that walking would be better in terms of fuel savings and improvement in health. Do not take the escalator and stand still if there are stairs available, and if there are none, use your legs when ascending and descending.
The energy used to move people up and down goes up much more rapidly than the weight on the device, so using your legs reduces energy consumption. It also gets you to your destination faster.
And for the sake of humanity, stop supporting commercial enterprises that keep the air-conditioning on with the doors wide open, the use of equipment in that form is a waste, because the net result is that they are heating the outdoors more than they are cooling the indoors.
Many cities have regulations that require closed doors if air-conditioning is in use, but the enforcement of those regulations is generally poor.
Going one step further, MRT stations should be required to have at least one set of plastic curtains to reduce the cold air that flows out into the street.
Emilio Venezian
New Taipei City
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