- checking login information
Loading...Are Most Electronics Designed For The Dump?
- Beth Buczynski
- November 10, 2010
- 9:10 am
- 71 comments
This eight-minute animated video, produced by Free Range Studios and hosted by Annie Leonard, explains the concept of “planned obsolescence”—products designed to be replaced as quickly as possible—and its often hidden consequences for tech workers, the environment and us.
The film concludes with an opportunity for you to send a message to electronics companies demanding that they “make ‘em safe, make ‘em last, and take ‘em back.”
Related:
The Importance of eCycling
Love the Earth, Freecycle Your Stuff
How to Recycle…Everything
Like this story? Connect with Beth on Twitter or StumbleUpon!
Read more: Conscious Consumer, Green, Reduce, Recycle & Reuse, Videos, Videos, annie leonard, electronics, landfill, planned obsolescence, pollution, Story of Stuff, waste
Beth Buczynski
Beth is a freelance writer and editor living in the Rocky Mountain West. So far, Beth has lived in or near three major U.S. mountain ranges, and is passionate about protecting the important ecosystems they represent. Follow Beth on Twitter as @ecosphericblog or check out her blog.
-
Where Do Electronics Go When They Die? (Infographic)
49 comments -
Mac Users Get A New Way To Recycle Old Electronics
48 comments -
“The Story Of Broke” Highlights Economic Mistakes [Video]
13 comments
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
I think this has been around before....they're so adorable!
Sounds great. Thanks for posting.
awww!!!they are soooo cute!
added baked garlic and it kicked it up a notch
Have had a cat that gave hugs, they are fairly easy to train for that. My present cat has always sa…
71 comments
+ add your ownI love the story of stuff project! These people are SO right!!!
thanks
It is the responsibility of the manufacturers to take responsibility for their products, even after the sale! Consumers are generally to stupid to take this on board, someone needs to stand up against this revolting wasteful behaviour!
Read an article a few months ago about planned obsolesence
and it saddens me to see money wasted on goods that
are purchased without thoughtful consideration.
Thanks!
Pull everything recyclable out of the garbage dumps, not only electronics, but plastics, metals, cars, etc. These can be broken down and used to make new products. Anything that can't be used could be thrown from a great height into a volcano, but I think everything can be recycled, etc. Also clean the seabed of all manmade litter in the same way. Lots of valuable artifacts on the seabed.
Totally agree. Most of us are completely controlled by consumerism and corporations, our lives have been conditioned to almost not able to live without these electronics. Repairing is so much more expensive than a new one, or just simply not available. Anyway, my old iBook is still around and working (if not a little slow) after 8 years, and that's for watching TV online now as we still refuse to get a TV.
Thanks. Today everything is built to be obsolete in year or less.
My husband, now 50, started his professional life at 16 as an apprentice in a repair shop, fixing house appliances (washing machines, TV sets etc. He told me about how the "repairing jobs" have totally died now, because unlike 30 years ago, such products are SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED NOT TO LAST, NEVER TO BE REPAIRED, but ONLY TO BE REPLACED.
For ex. 30 years ago, many parts in washing machines were made of metal, they're now plastic. And in television, the evolution in electronic parts has transformed a once simple device into smt which is so complicated, electronically-speaking, that in order to make potential "repair", technicians needs to buy very expensive equipment from the TV manufacturer, a "diagnosis kit", but 9 times out of 10, "repairing" means replacing the main circuit, the one which holds all the more complicated chips, which comes just as expensive as buying a new model!
IMHO this is one of the biggest "consumer scandals", yet harldy mediatised. A shame when,in parallel, our governments are trying to transform us consumers into "eco-conscious consumers" which, considering the above, is a total contradiction.
I will also precise that in France, each time we buy any appliance, from a hair dryer to a plasma TV, we have to pay a special tax for recycling. It's now compulsory for ALL shops selling any of those products to collect our used equipment when we buy an old one, without any charge (apart from the above-mtd tax, included in the price of the new product)
I think this video makes a lot of sense. When we talk about computers, though, maybe the applications just get more and more demanding on the hardware that old computers can't keep up. But would there be a way to upgrade? I've had my laptop for more than 4 years now, and it still does what I ask, at least most of the time, but I guess I am not an average user.
My TV is one of those 'humongous cathode ray tubes' and works fine. Sure, it's not sleek and slender, but, neither am I. For me, to get an HDTV would be a total waste of money, for the limitation of the perceived picture quality is not the TV, but my eyesight.
When we bought our first digital camera, and the pictures just became awful after about 18 months, we were told that the lifetime of a digital camera is only that much, for the very reason that was depicted in the video. On the other hand, my old 35mm still takes pictures just like it used to. And, really, do we NEED to replace our cell phones every few months? Again, I've had mine for so many years that I can't even remember. True, the display is good for showing text and numbers only, and there's no way for even showing a movie with it, but it is a goddamn telephone, not a TV!!!
Where I come from, there's a saying that translates to: 'A poor man can't afford buying cheap'. That applied when there still was stuff that was made to last, not cheap stuff that only lasts until the warranty expires.
I admit, I'm a grumpy old lady.
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment
20