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What frustrates me the most is how often it manifests as buying new, fashionable bamboo (for example) products and such rather than just reusing an existing ite

What frustrates me the most is how often it manifests as buying new, fashionable bamboo (for example) products and such rather than just reusing an existing item you or your relatives had sitting about, or buying one second hand. It's just more conspicuous consumption clothed in moral fashion

piuantiderp 3y ago
For most it is just an excuse to buy new things. Most ecologically conscious person I know had an old toyota pickup despite being able to afford whatever Tesla or such. He knew the car was a sunk cost
- rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
  Not sure I understand. >Most ecologically conscious person I know had an old toyota pickup despite being able to afford whatever Tesla or such. He knew the car was a sunk cost Depending on where you live, a Tesla can become more CO2 friendly in just 2 years. Especially compared to an old pickup. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-of-a-mid-size-bev-and-ice-vehicle https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-l...
  - Syonyk 3y ago
    My guess is that it was a small, rather high efficiency little subcompact Toyota pickup, and that it was driven relatively few miles annually and kept in good running order. Depending on the country and engine, there's also a possibility it was a waste vegetable oil burner (that was quite popular in certain circles, and I believe the old Toyota diesels were just fine with it). Also, there's more than just carbon emissions to consider, and this is an odd, deliberate-seeming blindness of the "environmental movements" of the past decade or so - blowing up a mountain for the minerals is fine, as long as it's carbon neutral. If you'd like to "never want another mobile computing device again," I suggest the book Cobalt Red, on the lies and deceit active in the DRC related to cobalt mining out there (basically, the nutshell is that regardless of what anyone claims to have done to improve the conditions, they've "worked around the problem" locally in ways that are almost impossible to detect on the ground, and it's still a ton of hand-dug cobalt in horrid working conditions, with the short lifespans and horrible deaths to go along).
    - piuantiderp 3y ago
      It was a smaller (from 90s) v6 or even v8 gas car. The point is to manufacture a car, a tremendous amount of energy is used in everything, from breaking up rock, extracting the iron ore, smelting to make steel, to machining, to etc... The CO2 emitted by the car during it use,( and you are correct, only ocassional few weekends use) is a rounding error.
      - rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
        >The CO2 emitted by the car during it use,( and you are correct, only ocassional few weekends use) is a rounding error. Source? Intuitively, I guess the weight of the consummmed gas quickly exceeds the weight of the car. CO2 adds 2 O to one C once emitted…
        piuantiderp 3y ago
        Look up how much CO2 is emitted in producing 1kg of steel. And to further drive the point. This is just CO2. Consider pollution, by-products and water use for a more complete picture. Reuse is better in every sense
xnx 3y ago
There's so much wisdom in the Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot principle that people don't want to hear.
- Syonyk 3y ago
  Don't forget "Repair"! The art of fixing things is rather out of style these days, but it's been a major part of every human society until rather recently. If something breaks, you fix it, you don't just use it as an excuse to buy new. Developing the skills to do "deep repair" sort of stuff on electronics is useful. It can be a profitable little side gig in a range of ways. Re-capping some old electronics to bring them back to life is quite satisfying, too.

piuantiderp 3y ago

For most it is just an excuse to buy new things. Most ecologically conscious person I know had an old toyota pickup despite being able to afford whatever Tesla or such. He knew the car was a sunk cost

rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
Not sure I understand. >Most ecologically conscious person I know had an old toyota pickup despite being able to afford whatever Tesla or such. He knew the car was a sunk cost Depending on where you live, a Tesla can become more CO2 friendly in just 2 years. Especially compared to an old pickup. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-of-a-mid-size-bev-and-ice-vehicle https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-l...
- Syonyk 3y ago
  My guess is that it was a small, rather high efficiency little subcompact Toyota pickup, and that it was driven relatively few miles annually and kept in good running order. Depending on the country and engine, there's also a possibility it was a waste vegetable oil burner (that was quite popular in certain circles, and I believe the old Toyota diesels were just fine with it). Also, there's more than just carbon emissions to consider, and this is an odd, deliberate-seeming blindness of the "environmental movements" of the past decade or so - blowing up a mountain for the minerals is fine, as long as it's carbon neutral. If you'd like to "never want another mobile computing device again," I suggest the book Cobalt Red, on the lies and deceit active in the DRC related to cobalt mining out there (basically, the nutshell is that regardless of what anyone claims to have done to improve the conditions, they've "worked around the problem" locally in ways that are almost impossible to detect on the ground, and it's still a ton of hand-dug cobalt in horrid working conditions, with the short lifespans and horrible deaths to go along).
  - piuantiderp 3y ago
    It was a smaller (from 90s) v6 or even v8 gas car. The point is to manufacture a car, a tremendous amount of energy is used in everything, from breaking up rock, extracting the iron ore, smelting to make steel, to machining, to etc... The CO2 emitted by the car during it use,( and you are correct, only ocassional few weekends use) is a rounding error.
    - rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
      >The CO2 emitted by the car during it use,( and you are correct, only ocassional few weekends use) is a rounding error. Source? Intuitively, I guess the weight of the consummmed gas quickly exceeds the weight of the car. CO2 adds 2 O to one C once emitted…
      - piuantiderp 3y ago
        Look up how much CO2 is emitted in producing 1kg of steel. And to further drive the point. This is just CO2. Consider pollution, by-products and water use for a more complete picture. Reuse is better in every sense

xnx 3y ago

There's so much wisdom in the Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot principle that people don't want to hear.

Syonyk 3y ago
Don't forget "Repair"! The art of fixing things is rather out of style these days, but it's been a major part of every human society until rather recently. If something breaks, you fix it, you don't just use it as an excuse to buy new. Developing the skills to do "deep repair" sort of stuff on electronics is useful. It can be a profitable little side gig in a range of ways. Re-capping some old electronics to bring them back to life is quite satisfying, too.