Using scarce resources more wisely

13 years ago

A couple of days ago Anna Maria Tremonti, a current affairs commentator on our national radio who was a correspondent based in various countries in earlier years, was discussing with a guest ways to use our scarce resources more wisely.

Her interesting program, "The Current" arrives weekday mornings for an hour and a half - catch it at www.cbc.ca/thecurrent

It incited me to send this reply to her

___________________________

Greetings Anna Maria,

You referred the other morning - Mon the 14th? and I don't recall time ... to our profligate ways as rather wealthy westerners.

It seems to me, with many of our traditional quality jobs being shifted offshore, and the middle class being more or less hollowed out, partly due to pervasive computers, I think, that we in the western world had better learn to live more carefully, frugally, husbanding our resources. Some say that it would take the resources of four planets to allow the whole world to live in the fashion to which we've become accustomed. We don't got no four planets! Available, anyway!

Growing up on a southern Ontario general farm, and having lots of work to do, being 10 when World War II began and our hired men went to war, I respect the productive capacity of our land and, as a Christian, have been taught to value human life.

It seems to me that we've been very wasteful of petroleum, that took millions of years to produce, and which we've used rather wastefully for the past 100 years - the amount that we used before that you could pretty well stick into your eye.

Add the problems with pollution and global warming, and it seems to me that we need to do some serious thinking of priorities.

Seventy years ago, little horse-drawn wagons brought bread and milk to the doors of townspeople, plus ice, chunks of which were chopped off of large blocks and carried by hand to put into ice-boxes in houses ... we in the country stored perishable food in pans of cold water in the basement.

Sixty years ago, they began to build refrigerators.

Fifty years ago, they built refrigerators that lasted for forty years.

Now, engineers having become so much stupider over the years ... the refrigerators that they build last for about ten years. And when I tell this story around, often the rejoinder that I hear at this point is, "If we're lucky!".

We have to keep the economy rolling along, don'tcha know?

However, when one considers the digging of ore, trasport, smelting (energy hog), transport, rolling, shaping, transport, then assembling into a refrig., auto, or whatever ... then transport to a retail store ...

... wouldn't it be the responsible thing to challenge the engineers to build a frig that'll last for sixty years ... and be energy efficient, into the bargain?

If we must have a market for a frig in ten years, I could buy one for a person in the Third World who's having trouble with food spoilage ... and within twenty years, we could build a financial system that'd have let another person in those areas have borrowed to start a business so that he can afford to buy one of his own.

I forebore adding that many parts of the refrigerator/auto are made of plastic, the usual source being that same scarce petroleum.

While they say that many of the refrig., car, etc. parts can be recycled, melted down and recast, or whatever ... still a major part of them can't be ... and to do so requires a great deal of energy.

Wouldn't we be better off to have them build a refrig. that'll last for 60 years, plus be fuel-efficient ...

... and just pay a bunch of guys/gals to dig holes in the ground today ... and fill them in for an hour or so tomorrow ... then set about digging some more holes? Day by day ... for those same thirty years or so?

Sure would use a lot less enerygy ... cause less pollution (maybe add a bit to global warming, as digging holes is rather hot work).

Good wishes to you and to your staff: keep up the good work.

I hear that Sun Media are fixing to start producing Fox News North.

Ed Baker

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

cynic
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
One good place to start is with this idea that a kitchen needs to be remodeled every five years and of course necessitating all new appliances.

Ironic you should speak of refrigerators. I just replaced mine a few weeks back. Yes, it seems that it should last more than 28 years, and yes it's possible it could have been repaired but repair costs would likely have been near the cost of replacement. Sometimes, though it's better to repair than replace, but that's another topic.

I did some thinking about cost comparison between the two refrigerators. Neither were bottom of the line, obviously nowhere near top of the line. In 1982 I paid about $675 (plus tax) for a refrigerator, the cheapest available about then IIRC was around $500-$550. I don't recall if I paid extra for delivery and disposal. I might have but since I don't remember I won't include it. This was 1982 dollars which according to The Inflation Calculator puts it at $1480.92 in 2009 dollars. So if I bought a comparable one, which I did, I should expect to pay $1480.92 and possibly more for delivery & disposal. I bought one for $380 (plus tax), including delivery which means I could buy nearly four for the price that I paid for my old one. Practically speaking, this means that if this lasts more than seven years, and I have no reason to believe it won't, I'll be money ahead by comparison. Plus it supposedly uses "much less" electricity about which I'm skeptical but waiting to see how the bills compare down the road.

Even discounting any allowance for different dollars, it was nearly $200 cheaper than my last one. It's missing one feature I fear I might miss, but has a few other features I like and were only available on much more expensive models back then.

Water heaters OTOH, are troubling to me. I don't see any reason why a water heater life should be 1/4 - 1/2 of what it was only a few decades ago. But it comes down to a simple thing. We in North America seldom buy for quality, despite what we purport. We buy for price and always try to get it cheaper, or at least the illusion of it being cheaper, that illusion for which many will pay any price.
jannie
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My mother is still using her Sunbeam Mixmaster that was a wedding gift in 1946. And she still uses her Hoover vacuum purchased around 1950. And she'd be driving her 1964 Mercury car if Dad hadn't sold it when it gotT "old". He used to buy new Fords every three-four years. Now Mom has no car and depends on her kids to drive her where she needs to go. And every Thursday my brother does her grocery shopping. She just gives him a list and money.
Related Discussions
Resource for inexpensive cast iron tub
Q
Comments (7)
"because of the low water level" You have now gotten out of the commodity bathtub market and entered a more specialized or low vol. one. Those low cast iron tubs are made by the tens of thousands because almost every home and scores of hotels in America has one. They function pretty well as a dual use for a shower or bath. Raising the side and deepening the water level inhibits access as a shower and adds lots of weight and expense to the unit. So, deeper tubs are usually acrylic or fiberglass because they are cheaper , lighter, faster to produce and can sell at a better price point, thus moving more units. It's not that you can't find a deep cast iron tub, it's that they won't be at the cheap price because of low volume.
...See More
Bamboo Counter Resources
Q
Comments (7)
I posted a Q about bamboo last Dec. but, of course, the post disappeared. I'll cut and paste the responses I got, but they'll be out of order. _______________________________ Thanks for the idea -- I'm now looking at (http://www.teragren.com/products_countertops.html) Teragren's product for our install. In San Francisco, it is running under $450 for a 30'x96' piece, end-grain, unfinished. It is stocked here by our distributor. I'm leaning to using using Waterloxx on it as well as an underhung sink. They have excellent installation instructions on their site. Expansion is probably the biggest design difference compared to a stone or stone-like product. I'm not concerned about hardness -- stilettos will kill any hardwood flooring. As I understand it, the bamboo products are comparable to oak. sfjeff _______________________________ Ok, I'm really puzzled by these statements -- Bamboo is pretty well acknowledged as a reasonably hard wood. For example, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test) Wikipeida gives Bamboo hardness as very comparable to oak and maple. Where are these claims of 'bamboo is soft' coming from? What evidence supports it? sfjeff _______________________________ I would have some concerns that they would dent easy. May not be a good comparison but, I looked a bamboo commercial floors. I was told they would withstand high traffic so I brought some samples to the office and did some wear tests. After a few hits with some ladies heels, I was amazed at how easy they dented. charlesp _______________________________ I know two people who installed a bamboo island, that required a seam. In both cases the seams seperated. Too bad, because they looked cool. hmdennis _______________________________ I have bamboo floors. The guy who installed them told me they were really quite a soft wood, and I agree. If you look at them closely, they show every single mark, scrape, ding. They are beautiful and have a lovely warmth to them, but I don't think I would want them as a countertop with the customary scratches, dropped things and knife marks. e4849 _______________________________ The only evidence I have are the big scrapes, scratches, and dings in my floors. e4849 _______________________________ I don't know about bamboo for counter tops, but I'd like to add to the general discussion about bamboo and floors. I just had Teragren's Synergy strand bamboo flooring installed in my upstairs remodel, after a long period of research. And info seems to be fairly scarce about bamboo on the net. I've been looking into it for a couple of years. What I learned was there are significant differences in bamboo flooring products. Carmelized colored regular bamboo is softer than natural colored, because they somehow heat the bamboo to get the carmelized color and the heating process makes the carmelized softer. The age the bamboo is harvested makes a huge difference. You want 5-6 year old bamboo. Younger is too soft. Strand or woven strand is MUCH harder because it is manufactured under pressure and is essentially shredded and glued back together with hi tech expoxy (reminds me of how strong laminated beams are...). Anyway, I abused my Synergy sample and the only things that scratched or dented it were running a pair of scissors over it and throwing a granite rock at it! I have no concerns about shoe traffic, this stuff is hard! It is not engineered with a wear layer adhered to the top of plywood, it is through-body. The owner of DHs company has had bamboo in a commercial showroom for several years and he loves it too. So, I guess the moral of my story is all bamboo is not created equal. :-) kimkitchy _______________________________ Verrrrry interesting. HMDennis: Any chance you can get more info on your friends' islands, i.e., type of Bamboo, where they got it? betsyhac
...See More
Are our aplliance manufacturers growing more stupid over time?
Q
Comments (24)
I think there are a few rose-colored glasses being donned here. I remember the '60s. Back then, you could figure on replacing a washer and dryer about every five years. (One exception was old Maytags, which ran forever. But they were very pricey, and I recall my mom saying that friends of hers who had them hated them because they didn't clean very well.) It seemed like my dad worked on ours constantly. Besides the frequent breakdowns, there was regular maintenance: the agitator spindle had to be lubricated every three months or so. Once a year the washer and dryer motors had to be oiled. And the dryer needed a new belt about once a year. Oh, and washers didn't have self-cleaning filters then. There was a oblong-shaped screen thing that had to be pulled out of a nook in the tub and cleaned after every load, or else the next load wouldn't get clean. The timer would go out in about three years. Same for the dryer element. And when you finally bought a new set, you didn't sell the old washer and dryer; you took them to the dump because they were completely used up. You could figure on the TV breaking down about once a year. I recall making many trips to Sears with my dad and a bag full of tubes, to use the tube tester. If that didn't get it, time to call the repairman. You could figure on a TV lasting about seven years before the CRT or something else expensive failed, and then it was time for a new one. In the kitchen, the stove needed a new element somewhere about once every two years. That more or less coincided with the schedule on which the fridge broke down. Diswashers weren't a problem because nobody had one. Microwave ovens were unheard of. When a car got to be about four years old, it was worn out. My dad kept a '61 Buick for nine years and I remember his friends teasing him about that old car. Every few thousand miles it ate a starter solenoid. Dad always kept one in the trunk. He got to where he could change one in about 15 minutes. Even a new car needed a quart of oil every fourth or fifth trip to the gas station. Tires were good for maybe 20,000 miles. Shocks for not much more.
...See More
Flour sack towels. Best resource? I'm in Canada.
Q
Comments (40)
At a yard sale, came across yardage for those sort of "retro" red striped towels. Not sure what the fabric content was (maybe cotton & linen?)... I just folded into an equal number, cut and finished edges. Remember those "old school" towel holders that were in restrooms? The kind that were some LONG continuous piece of fabric? Usually white with maybe a colored strip along edges.
...See More
sjerin
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'll be the Negative Nelly here and say that it's all the bottom line. The vast majority of companies will do anything to make their products cheaper (labor + parts) and I truly believe they are made to last only a short time. This has been the their biggest boon, I think. As for buying quality, it's not always possible. Take a gander at the appliance forum and you can see that even those appliances that cost an arm and a leg are not necessarily without problems. In the U.S., Whirlpool is the parent company to almost all the American (not -made!) appliances companies. Without competition, what reason do they have to build a longer-lasting, more environmentally friendly machine?
joyfulguy
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi sjerin,

In a real whirlpool ...

... the light trash ends up floating at the middle of the spinning water, the vortex.

In the case of Whirlpool ...

... could we call it pervasive?

ole joyful
cynic
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Ah Jannie, your Mother's car didn't happen to be a 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente did it? I get a kick out of that lady. Hope she's still doing fine and cruising in "Chariot"
joyfulguy
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My friend in her 80's with whom I boarded in a village nearby in the early '70s had a blue Comet.

The talk around town was that when Bessie's little blue car appeared on the hoizon ... it was wise to get out of the way.

If she had any accidents, I don't recall having heard of them ... and I can't remember there having been any dents or scratches on it ... and it was not of recent manufacture, at the time.

She was a sweet lady - former gynecological nurse, whom everyone loved: I don't think that I ever heard anyone say anything bad about Bessie. Had lost a soldier friend in World War I ... and never married.

I credit Bessie with helping me avoid becoming bitter about women in general, following my divorce.

ole joyful

Using scarce resources more wisely

Comments (6)

cynic

jannie

Related Discussions

sjerin

joyfulguy
Original Author

cynic

joyfulguy
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Using scarce resources more wisely

Comments (6)

cynic

jannie

Related Discussions

sjerin

joyfulguyOriginal Author

cynic

joyfulguyOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

joyfulguy
Original Author

joyfulguy
Original Author