by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
We are being bombarded, day in – day out, by the talk about local food – growing and eating – and with reference to food footprint and food miles.
And while this is something that we should, nay must, do. That is to buy and consume locally grown food and food that is in season, we also must get back to the same attitude, in addition to that as regarding to produce, as regards to the products we consume.
Cheap good made in China and imported to our countries do not have their full production costs, transportation costs, and especially not their environmental costs factored into the price.
Locally produced goods probably might cost a little more in general price but...
When we are talking here, in the context of local products, goods and services, about local this could and does mean our own country even and not just town or county, the way the measurements are done as to being a locavore. We must take into consideration here that not everything will be made locally within a few miles of one's locality. Much of it, however, could be made locally, of that I am sure, for it could be done thus in the time of our ancestors.
Much of what we want to have today in our lives, and how else would this publication be possible and exist where it is, and also need, are modern things that cannot be produced all that close by.
However, we should get away from having goods made at slave labor rates in places such as China, etc. and then not factoring in all the hidden costs in the price.
If we did factor those costs in then locally made goods might look a much better option and one cheaper in the long run.
Having recently gotten a Smith &Wesson hunting knife “Made in China” from what appears to be very high grade stainless steel I must say that the quality is great and the cost for this knife very cheap but are the environmental costs factored in, I wonder, in the price.
Also, there are some knifemakers in the USA and elsewhere who produce equally good knives by hand for just a little more in price than those S&W knives. And this is especially true of such knives are produced locally from scrap and other upcycled products then the cost should, with the “hidden” costs factored in, be or appear to be exorbitant at all.
Our greatest problem today is that nothing can b e mended anymore, be this computers and their peripherals opr shoes or boots or what-have-you and everything is geared to be thrown.
Also, where are the menders?
Most shoes and boots nowadays have “welded on” soles and no longer even have a sewn mid-sole for instance. So, no way to actually repair them. And this is the case with so many other products too.
Let's face it; not everyone has a workshop at home and the DIY and even engineering skills and tools to repair a desktop, Notebook or Netbook computer (PC), an electric kettle, a TV, a radio receiver, or even bicycles or shoes.
For sustainability's sake of all our lives we must get back to products that do not have a factored in lifespan of x-years (single figure below five often) to be thrown thereafter and replaced with new. We simply cannot go on this way!
We must get back from a “throw away” society to a “repair” and also a “make do and mend” society and one of quality reliable products (again).
As said previously, too many products today have but a short lifespan factored in. They are only meant to last that time and no longer. All this in order so that the manufacturers can reap more and more profits and hence those products are also designed not to be repairable. This is an unsustainable practice, however, and one that does not bode well for our Planet, for we use finite resources in the making of many of those products that are designed to enter the waste stream within a limited lifespan, often less than ten years and many times less than five even.
Theoretically a computer using Microsoft Windows operating system has a factored in lifespan of less than five years, to all intents and purposes. Using an alternative Open Source operating system on those PCs, however, such as Linux, even old computers can run for a long time as long as the hardware holds out.
And while Linux, including Ubuntu Linux, is not a free version of Windows but a different operating system altogether there are enough ordinary users who that employ Linux and also businesses and governments.
Linux has no problems per se with viruses and malware and is hence better and, in generally, I have found Linux to be much more stable, but the problems that people do have with it is that most general software is written for Windows (and maybe Mac) but not for Linux, be this hardware encryption engines on USB drives, for instance, or what-have-you. Things are beginning to change, though.
However, Linux, in its various distributions, is a viable alternative to MS Windows as there is enough software out there, in the repositories, that is great and useful and – did I mention it – free; in the same way that Linux, per se, is free.
But I digressed a little; yet again.
We must change the way we do things. Manufacturing goods must be brought back “in house” again, so to speak; back to our home countries and localities, in the same way as the move is to growing food locally and using locally grown food primarily. We must do it and we must do it now.
The global economy is nothing but a gigantic ponzi scheme that only has the appearance of being effective and working. The fact is, however, that we are robbing Peter, in this case Mother Earth, to pay Paul, that is to say the shareholders of companies and ourselves with low prices. This cannot continue and the change must be made and made now.
© 2009
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