Oregon Public Broadcasting

1st congressional district 2012 election 2012 session agriculture art arts author beer births books budget business central oregon college congress crime culture death penalty eastern oregon economy education employment energy environment eugene fishing food gangs gay rights health health care high school history homeless housing jobs law legislature literature living media mental health military movies music native americans obama occupy portland occupy wall street onthejob oregon our town outdoors parenting police politics portland portland business journal portland mayor pregnancy prison public health race rebroadcast recess recession religion republicans rural schools science shooting sports supreme court talking business technology teen theater unemployment union university of oregon washington water weekend women youth

Planned obsolescence in the antithesis of sustainability

A large part of what the sustainability movement is working to reverse revolves around the planned obsolescence of many consumer products, favored by an increasing number of companies. Whether its by endless minor upgrades rendering the previous model undesireable, to refusing to support older products with repairs, replacement parts, or backward compatibility, to blatantly poor engineering, the biggest enemy of the green/sustainable movement is our acceptance of the escalating disposability in the products we buy. This is also a touchy subject in terms of the current economy, which is largely structured on the idea that consumers will continue to purchase and replace these doomed products at increasing levels in order to sustain higher expectations of consumer spending. The planned obsolesence piece of the sustainability picture would be a fascinating and enlightening TOL show of its own.

posted 3 years, 3 months ago
view in context