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Since silver is important in making the front contacts of solar cells, sell that old unused silverware blackening in the drawer and help replace fossil fuels.

Since silver is important in making the front contacts of solar cells, sell that old unused silverware blackening in the drawer and help replace fossil fuels. Worried what the ghost of granny will think? Ghosts don't exist.

acheron 1y ago
Beep boop, human feelings are illogical.
- wakawaka28 1y ago
  The funny thing is that the "logical argument" is also emotional. "Your silver is tarnishing because you don't need or even want it" and "don't you care about the climate, we need solar panels to be 0.1% cheaper" are playing with emotions.
  - bee_rider 1y ago
    Most individual people can only hope to make a minuscule difference for the climate. I don’t think it’s really irrational to try to make that 0.1% difference, just a recognition of our limitations.
    - wakawaka28 1y ago
      I think 0.1% is an exaggeration, and the price drop would be even less. The amount of silver even in all the silverware put together is dwarfed by other uses, even investment (which is stacking it in a vault for future use). The point is that depriving yourself of sentimental objects just because you imagine some green outcome is silly. The absolute most environmentally friendly use for the silverware is to put it in the hands of someone who WANTS silverware, because of the substantial costs required to make it in the first place PLUS the costs of remanufacturing it into other objects (which you also have to assume in the transfer to your proposed use).
wakawaka28 1y ago
The impact of everyone selling their silverware on solar panel prices (and probably even bullion prices) would be so miniscule that it doesn't even matter. So don't destroy your culturally significant artifacts because of such absurd hypotheticals as "I'm making the world a better place by doing this"...
- pfdietz 1y ago
  Yes, by all means allow the "culturally significant artifacts" to sit unused, taking up space, until your estate sale where they will be purchased for their scrap value. The attachment to these things is a distant echo of when they were signs of social status, when maybe 1% of households, the rich ones, would have silver flatware (and the servants to keep it polished.) Now? They are superfluous matter than serves to weight down our lives.
  - wakawaka28 1y ago
    You might think this is "superfluous matter" but it is literally physical wealth in your hand, on top of being historically significant (in some cases). It is still probably only owned and used by the top 1%. The bottom line is, you should sell silver if you feel like the sale price is worth it, or you personally hate it. Not because you dream of solar panels and what not, that hardly use much of it at all. As with most manufactured goods, it is better to sell silverware to continue to be used as silverware, than to scrap it.
    - pfdietz 1y ago
      You'd do better to sell the silver and invest in things that actually produce wealth.
      - wakawaka28 1y ago
        Perhaps. Or you could lose money. That is the difference between having wealth and investing.
    - 1y ago

acheron 1y ago

Beep boop, human feelings are illogical.

wakawaka28 1y ago
The funny thing is that the "logical argument" is also emotional. "Your silver is tarnishing because you don't need or even want it" and "don't you care about the climate, we need solar panels to be 0.1% cheaper" are playing with emotions.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  Most individual people can only hope to make a minuscule difference for the climate. I don’t think it’s really irrational to try to make that 0.1% difference, just a recognition of our limitations.
  - wakawaka28 1y ago
    I think 0.1% is an exaggeration, and the price drop would be even less. The amount of silver even in all the silverware put together is dwarfed by other uses, even investment (which is stacking it in a vault for future use). The point is that depriving yourself of sentimental objects just because you imagine some green outcome is silly. The absolute most environmentally friendly use for the silverware is to put it in the hands of someone who WANTS silverware, because of the substantial costs required to make it in the first place PLUS the costs of remanufacturing it into other objects (which you also have to assume in the transfer to your proposed use).

wakawaka28 1y ago

The impact of everyone selling their silverware on solar panel prices (and probably even bullion prices) would be so miniscule that it doesn't even matter. So don't destroy your culturally significant artifacts because of such absurd hypotheticals as "I'm making the world a better place by doing this"...

pfdietz 1y ago
Yes, by all means allow the "culturally significant artifacts" to sit unused, taking up space, until your estate sale where they will be purchased for their scrap value. The attachment to these things is a distant echo of when they were signs of social status, when maybe 1% of households, the rich ones, would have silver flatware (and the servants to keep it polished.) Now? They are superfluous matter than serves to weight down our lives.
- wakawaka28 1y ago
  You might think this is "superfluous matter" but it is literally physical wealth in your hand, on top of being historically significant (in some cases). It is still probably only owned and used by the top 1%. The bottom line is, you should sell silver if you feel like the sale price is worth it, or you personally hate it. Not because you dream of solar panels and what not, that hardly use much of it at all. As with most manufactured goods, it is better to sell silverware to continue to be used as silverware, than to scrap it.
  - pfdietz 1y ago
    You'd do better to sell the silver and invest in things that actually produce wealth.
    - wakawaka28 1y ago
      Perhaps. Or you could lose money. That is the difference between having wealth and investing.
  - 1y ago