Rust In Pieces

Soundtrack: "Pony" by Far

First of all, I would like to send my condolences to David Carradine's friends and family.  His death has been a great loss for the acting community and he will be missed.

And, my condolences to the families who have been affected by General Motor's demise.  Many people seem surprised about everything that has been happening.  Layoffs, dealerships being cut, and now the bankruptcy.  But I think a majority of people realize that this has been a long time coming.  It all started with invention of "planned obsolescence".

What is planned obsolescence?  It is the process of a product becoming obsolete or non-functional after a certain amount of time as designed by the manufactured.  In essence, it is designing something to break.

On paper it might look good for some companies.  Design a car, build it to last five years, then every year introduce a better, more expensive upgrade.  After 5 years those upgrades add up to profit because people have no choice but to buy the newer, shinier model.  GM has been doing it for years, Apple is doing it, video game console designers have done it.  And it works... until people get tired of it.

Here's the deal: companies like Apple are going to end up like GM if they don't take a lesson from this.  Instead of building stuff to break, build stuff that can be upgraded.  Look at the Japanese; they mastered the art of upgrades through the import tuning market.  They figured out they could sell a well-built, inexpensive car that people could sink money into by adding options and after-market parts.  And if a third-party company wanted to get in on the profits they had to pay royalties in order to be a "certified" company.  It's an idea that has taken off, everyone is doing it, even companies like GM and Apple.  But if the companies who use planned obsolescence want to continue to function, they will stop jerking around these third party companies as well as consumers and start making things to last.

People have jumped on the "progressive" idea bandwagon and they are embracing ideas like sustainability and corporate accountability full-force.  I don't see a future where people throw their money and resources away on buying the latest shiny thing every five years.  That kind of thinking is dead.  If you don't agree with that, if you do not think GM is dead, you are fooling yourself.  They may continue with the same name, they may continue to make cars, but they are not going to be the same company.  It's a new world for them, but their future is about as dark and apocalyptic as it can get. 

Rust in pieces, indeed.

Elegant Sustainability

Soundtrack: “Frank Sinatra” by Cake

Sustainable technologies are starting to become all the rage right now in light of rising energy and traditional materials costs. These are technologies that have been around since the dawn of time but have been forgotten since the days of the Industrial Revolution in favor of mass-produced assembly-line products.

While mass-production itself is not a bad thing, it has allowed our culture to become lazy consumers. We throw things out at the drop of a hat without thinking about reusing or recycling. This means that more and more goes into the garbage can which means that manufacturers have to make more stuff. Which then goes into the garbage can. From the garbage can stuff goes into the landfill and that means that the natural cycle of things is broken. Resources are not allowed to return into the chain and future generations end up having less to work with. Not only that but the environment suffers. What sustainability does is provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. People within the sustainability community embrace balance. How can we use the resources we have now in a responsible way so that the earth doesn’t suffer and future generations will have what they need? It is definitely a much healthier outlook on conservation and the environment than the fanatical environmental groups who take on a reactionary attitude towards things. And with all of the controversy surrounding global warming and climate change, I feel that sustainability is the best answer to the polarizing questions swirling through our society.

The great thing about sustainability is that it can look good. There are quite a few companies out there that are deeply entrenched in utilizing sustainable technologies, and in fact many fall within the design community. One such player is a company called Moral Fervor. They make great clothing made from organic and recycled materials. Not only that, but their clothing has some awesome design going on. There's a video below that is a short blurb about what they are all about, it's pretty cool.

I would challenge everyone to get involved in the sustainability movement. You don’t have to make any huge life-altering changes, just changes in your attitude towards being a consumer. All it takes is paying attention to the little things. For more information about it, there are two great web sites here and here that offer some great explanations and resources.