Clipmarks | urbanlife's 'economy' clips

The Throw-Away Culture: Do you Own your Stuff?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:38:18 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Our new economy may be just the motivation people need to stop and think before they toss.

If something breaks our first instinct is to throw it away and buy it new, instead of trying to fix it.

But even if we wanted to fix it, manufacturers have made it difficult for us to repair, re-use or upgrade our stuff.

Mr. Jalopy urges technology companies to create forums for consumers to share ideas, and pushes car companies to sell patterns so people can create accessories like seat covers....he wants companies to make schematics readily available so consumers can fix and re-imagine the objects they buy.

Clip Source: makezine.com

Clip Source: www.danramsey.com

Clip Source: www.npr.org

a push to re-imagine the objects we own rather than throw them away

the movement is about reusing and repairing objects, rather than discarding them to buy more

a philosophical idea about what ownership really is.

The terms of ownership are still dictated by the company that assembled it

If you're not able to open and replace the batteries in your iPod or replace the fuel-sender switch on your Chevy truck, you don't really own it

preaching the gospel of open source manufacturing

some corporations have shown interest

He tells them to use screws instead of glue, and to make schematics readily available so consumers can fix and re-imagine the objects they buy.

the economy may soon force people to alter their approach to objects

He yearns for the 1950s, he says, when people held onto their things for many years, fixing rather than discarding them.

Tags: reuse, repair, reduce waste, treasure, you can do it, own your stuff forever, cost of replacement

What Ideas Will Shape our Future? The 10 Ideas of the 21st Century

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:38:59 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: "More than money, more than politics, ideas are the secret power that this planet runs on."

"The 21st century will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The 20th century saw the end of European dominance of global politics and economics. The 21st century will see the end of American dominance too, as new powers make their voices heard on the world stage."

"The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the environment, stabilizing the world's population, narrowing the gaps of rich and poor and ending extreme poverty—will render passé the very idea of competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources."

"The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet."

"6.6 billion people living in an interconnected global economy producing an astounding $60 trillion of output each year."

Clip Source: www.time.com

ideas are the secret power that this planet runs on

Clip Source: www.time.com

10. Re-Judaizing Jesus

if you get the [Jewish] context wrong, you will certainly get Jesus wrong

Clip Source: www.time.com

9. Mandatory Health

a crackdown on workers' poor health habits

Clip Source: www.time.com

8. The New Austerity

Americans have kept piling on more and more debt

Clip Source: www.time.com

7. Synthetic Authenticity

the virtualization of life

has led to a deep consumer yearning for the authentic

Clip Source: www.time.com

6. Geoengineering

compensate for an intensified greenhouse effect by reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth

Clip Source: www.time.com

5. Kitchen Chemistry

remaining brave cooks are going a little mad scientist

easier through gadgetry

Clip Source: www.time.com

4. Reverse Radicalism

Why do people leave terrorist groups?

disenchantment

Clip Source: www.time.com

3. The Post-Movie-Star Era

big names no longer mean big grosses

Clip Source: www.time.com

2. The End of Customer Service

the need to interact with human beings is quickly disappearing

Clip Source: www.time.com

1. Common Wealth

ending our misguided view of the world as an enduring struggle of "us" vs. "them"

our fate, our common wealth, is in our hands

to save the world for all

Tags: globalization, economy, religion, movies, planet, common, humanity, culture

Spain's New Record: Wind Power Supplied 40% of Energy Consumed

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:15:59 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Wind Power Is an Economic Winner in Spain: Spain is the world's second-biggest producer of wind energy.

Spanish companies, both turbine manufacturers and wind-farm operators, are among the leaders in the global wind-power market. Among these are Gamesa Eólica (world's second largest turbine manufacturer), Iberdrola (world's largest wind-farm owner and operator) and Acciona Energía (world's largest wind-farm builder and developer).

The industry currently enjoys a 30 percent annual growth.

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

Clip Source: www.metaefficient.com

Wind power is breaking new records in Spain, accounting for just over 40 percent of all electricity consumed during a brief period

As heavy winds lashed Spain on Saturday evening wind parks generated 9,862 megawatts of power which translated to 40.8 percent of total consumption

In July the government approved legislation that will allow offshore wind parks to be set up along the nation’s vast coastline in an effort to boost the use of renewable energy sources

offshore wind parks can take advantage of stronger, steadier coastal breezes

Spain, which along with Germany and Denmark, is among the three biggest producers of wind power in the 27-nation European Union, is aiming to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

Tags: wind power, alternative energy, spain, economy, green jobs

3 Million Acres of Alaska's Forest Open for Logging

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:37:42 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Local officials hailed the plan as a reasonable way to maintain the area's logging economy. Environmentalists portrayed it as the latest in a series of attempts to dismantle Clinton-era protections of roadless areas and in order to open them to logging.

The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is one of America's greatest natural treasures—a coastal rainforest with centuries-old trees providing critical habitat for wolves, bears, salmon, bald eagles and other wildlife.

The Tongass is the world's largest remaining intact coastal rainforest. This remote rainforest of ancient trees covers an island landscape marked by narrow inlets and glacier-carved fiords.

Clip Source: www.greenpeace.org

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

More than 3 million acres of pristine wilderness in Alaska's Tongass National Forest would be open to logging and road building under a new management plan

At 17 million acres, roughly the size of West Virginia, the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the country's largest national forest and the world's largest intact coastal temperate rain forest

Clip Source: www.fs.fed.us

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

"So much of a focus of the management plan is logging, when in fact, it's less than 1% of the economy . . . when in fact, commercial fishing [and] tourism and recreation are the two largest private industries that depend on the forest."

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, developed in the Clinton administration and adopted in 2001

In 2003, the Bush administration exempted the Tongass National Forest from the roadless rule

Clip Source: www.ourforests.org

More than half of the big-tree, old-growth forest in the Tongass—

—has been systematically compromised over the past six decades through clearcut logging and associated industrial development

Clip Source: www.fs.fed.us

Clip Source: www.greenpeace.org

Tags: national forest, alaska, logging, rain forest, roadless rule, environment

Why Denmark Loves Globalization

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:14:44 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: There's more than one way to be competitive.

Clip Source: www.time.com

globalization is a deeply fraught topic. Not in Denmark. There, 76% of respondents in a recent poll said globalization was a good thing

Living standards in Denmark are among the highest in the world

Unemployment is just 3.1%

The country exports more goods and services than it imports

All that adds up, according to

World Economic Forum (WEF)

to the third most competitive economy on the planet

the second highest tax burden in the capitalist world

a generous welfare state, a heavily unionized workforce and at least five paid weeks off every year

banishing the financial insecurity that plagues so many American workers, Danish politicians and business leaders have won public support for all manner of business-friendly policies

free education, free health care, a good financial situation if you lose your job, together with a flexible labor market

is the answer to the challenges of globalization

Denmark has combined a dynamic economy with a tax burden almost double that of the U.S.

Tags: denmark, tax, globalization

Cowboy Economy Devastated American Cities

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:27:17 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife

Clip Source: www.tcaup.umich.edu

The “cowboy economy” is a phrase used to describe the American ethic employed when land was plentiful and the cry across the land was 'westward ho.'

The cowboy metaphor symbolized the “illimitable plains” and the “reckless and exploitative” behavior of American economic activity.

Despite these warnings, a frontier mentality that continues to allow strip mining, overgrazing, and woodland clear cutting still prevails.

The cowboy ethic has devastated American cities. Especially those cities formed in the 1800s around economies that have since become obsolete or where entire industries have moved “somewhere else.”

Managing shrinking cities has become not just a Michigan problem. Industrial and manufacturing cities have been bleeding jobs and people since the 60s and 70s throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Abandoned property decreases the value of surrounding properties, harbors criminal activity, and creates urban blight that spreads block by block.

Tags: flint, economy, de-industrialization, city, michigan