Saturday 2 June 2012

Something More Personal


Originally I was going to review Toxic: Imperial Valley.  It is a documentary that is both relevant to WaPreG and well-made.  It is about a few environmental problems occurring in Imperial Valley, in terms of pollution.  The one pollution that intrigued me the most is the dumping of waste near Slab City.  I do very much recommend it, despite my not writing about it.  I enjoyed it, however I felt no inspiration to write the review.  That is odd, since I have felt inspired by many different pieces – documentaries, articles, websites, songs, etc – that were not necessarily even fully related to WaPreG that I even have a list.  I doubt I will ever finish that list, it is so long.  This weeks’ post is going to be inspired by the reason I cannot move to the next piece on my list, the one that would have followed the documentary.

In mid-March, my power cord stopped working.  It is a two-piece power cord, so I was hoping to only replace the part that was broken.  The problem is, these things are not universal, even though they could easily be.  Even within a brand, parts often vary from one model to the next.  Because of this, I had to buy a whole new cord to replace my four year old cord.  The cord whose box and part connecting to the wall were both still in working condition (however the box is attached to the part that plugs into the computer, so the box working is a bit irrelevant).  Luckily, the replacement is universal, so I will be able to use it on future computers when their cords break.

Within a week, the new cord stopped working.  Oddly enough, the same part stopped working as with my original power cord, albeit a different problem.  Anyways, this cord has a warranty, so I was able to have it replaced.  It worked well for a week, then I had a bit of trouble with it until Wednesday, the day I handed in my incompletes.  I was fortunate enough to get it back two days (I went the day after it arrived at the store, so really only one day) after bringing it in, despite being advised of a weeks’ wait.  Though I was expecting four to six weeks, this really just shows how dependent we are on technology.  One of my friends is also a great example.  She got her computer back only the day before I got mine back and she went through the whole week without a computer (it is so short but feels much longer for those of us depending on this technology).  Her laptops hard drive gave out, so while waiting for the replacement, she had a hard time functioning even though she didn’t need a computer.  She then realized that she wastes so much time on the laptop, ending up much more focused on her schoolwork and she procrastinated less during that week.

Coming back to my few days without my computer, all of my work went to a standstill, since it is all computer-related, despite having finished my semester.  The replacement turned out to be an upgrade, so hopefully it will last through the warranty (which was not renewed ...makes me wonder how much confidence the store has in its products) or the same four years as the original or an even better eight years, double the original!

As nice as it would be to get eight years out of the new power cord, I highly doubt that will happen.  The reason: planned obsolescence.  Ever hear your parents complain about how things just don’t last as long as they used to?  They are not crazy, it is true!  Companies used to make high-quality products but now, many companies purposefully manufacture their products so they will break in not too long a time.  When they break, the part that breaks no longer exists or else is so expensive to replace that the consumer often chooses to replace the product, rather than to repair it.  As a socially and environmentally aware individual, this worries me.  When it comes to electronics, most of which contain conflict minerals, this means further exacerbating the conflict (hence the term) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  When it comes to any of these products, this means increasing the amount of waste pollution.  Though recycling exists for most of these products, this recycling only exists in certain regions and even within those regions, many people do not know of these initiatives.

I could say so much more about these two issues, however I will further discuss the DRC in the future and WaPreG is all about waste, so I do hope all my posts enlighten you.  I know this was a rather brief post, however it could get very long if I do not restrain myself.  To know more, I do recommend that you all look at the pieces I use, as they have a different point of view and additional information to that which I discuss in my posts.

This week’s quote is by Elizabeth Beresford: make good use of bad rubbish.

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