Stuff

Check out this entertaining and informative video about stuff and the process that's involved in making it. As most people know, there are inherent costs to every activity man does without exception because in producing anything (cars, computers, carrots, clothes etc., etc.), energy is expended and something is changed as a result. Previously, the trade off of cost vs. benefit in producing stuff was not a big deal because there was always "easy" access to plentiful resources that enabled companies to produce stuff without a care in the world (Impact on people's lives and their environment was never considered but that's yesterday's news, right?). This laissez faire approach to doing business no longer works due to the fact resources are dwindling and the environment is deteriorating, conditions that make the "Instant gratification isn't fast enough philosophy" a losing proposition at best.

Tech is both a cause and a cure for the current disease of shop, buy and throw away stuff at ever accelerating rates, something that cannot be sustained as seen by the looming Long Emergency the world is beginning to experience as we pass peak oil and move toward a society that has no access to cheap and plentiful energy, the "stuff " civilization needs in order to survive.

"When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.

Then the Grasshopper knew...
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.
- The Ant & the Grasshopper