Deconstructing a Joke
Sunday’s NYTimes had a correction to make:
“An article on March 16 about Eddie Izzard described the setup to his “Cake? Or Death?” routine incorrectly. He imagined what would have happened if the Church of England rather than the Roman Catholic Church had run the Inquisition — not if the Church of England rather than the Romans had tried to conquer the world.”
Did Eddie have to correct them, or do you think a fane wrote in? And, does an intern have to post those corrections?
Plasmas On The Streets Of Japan
Another article, discussing the concept of quality and total product lifecycles and producer responsibility.
Like everything else – like health, like famine relief, like national security – the ethical impulse to minimise our waste must be rendered sensible in business terms before it can be understood to be practical in any other way. The liveliest new thinking in relation to rubbish is therefore about the great financial benefit recycling brings – there are profits to be had, and this is understood to be a motor of change. The concept was essentially invented by the Japanese, by companies such as Toshiba, who invented a system of ‘total quality management’ whereby the manufacturing process would build in the possibility of zero defects. Many Japanese companies are now working on an understanding that their processes will suffer only one defect per million. ‘Transferred to the arena of municipal waste,’ said Stephen Tindale of Greenpeace,
Zero Waste forces attention onto the whole life cycle of products. Zero Waste encompasses producer responsibility, ecodesign, waste reduction, reuse and recycling, all within a single framework. It breaks away from the inflexibility of incinerator-centred systems and offers a new policy framework capable of transforming current linear production and disposal processes into “smart” systems that utilise the resources in municipal waste and generate jobs and wealth for local economies.
Lastly, in Japan, they just leave things out in the streets when they bore of them. A TV, music center, refrigerator and washing machine just put out on the streets. The cost of upgrading electronic goods is not only price but space. There are fees for recycling. Putting the item in the street saves the person a trip and a fee for a recycling sticker. Most goods are in good working order just a bit dated. There are even plasma TVs waiting to be picked up!
What a standard of living we have achieved, when toddlers have their own ipods, and plasmas are left on the street.
Now what?
Thinking About Our Footprint
So I’ve never before felt the same “Chicken Little” emotion around the environment going to pot, but the longer I’ve been on the west coast, the more curious I’m becoming about waste: where it goes, how it’s managed, and how we all contribute to the Great Pile. I recently watched the promo video for The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. It’s a little campy, predictably biased but gets the message across without too much brow beating – always a nice benefit.
There was one segment which particularly resonated with me, her chapter on Consumption. It wasn’t a suprise that our nation’s identity is driven through shopping and consuming. However it was a surpise that only 1% of the things we consume is trashed within 6 months – I believe it given that the consignment stores are always packed, . I know that the US definition of quality is far lower than say, Germany’s. We plan for obselence because we like to buy new things – “Keep it bright and shiney and give me the new color please!” They buy for the long haul, their decision on a quality product bringing them contentment that they no longer have to worry about that (dishwasher, camera or car) again.
Shortly after WWII when we were figuring out how to ramp up the economy, a retail analyst articulated one of the most demonic sentences that (I believe) has set this country on a crack habit of consumption that no AA program can solve:
Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate.
- Victor Lebow, 1955
There is something so niave, short-term and small-minded about this statement. Is it because we are such a young country that we followed such advice so literally? There are several sites, all ending in dead ends saying Viktor is speaking critically and giving warning and some said Lebow was an environmentalist.
Resources:
Why Consumption Matters
Prior article from Viktor Lebow and a pretty comprehensive post on this topic…
Garbage Gourmets
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Just recently saw a news segment entitled “Garbage Gourmet” (unable to find the link, but here is a similar story). Not that eating food from a garbage can is enticing, but I was intrigued. I’ve worked in catering and upscale shopping markets when I was in high school and I’m well aware of having to toss perfectly good items (from magazines to pasteries to produce). Piles of items just sit there waiting for the landfill or pests to start picking through it. Press releases aside, I never understood why the markets don’t give first dibbs to their employees.If that’s too hard to do, why not develop a relationship with local food kitchens and Veterans organizations to collect the goods? Food, magazines, any item in the market with damaged packaging or old expiration dates are thrown away. |
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In a world where the disparity is so great between those who have, and those who do not – why are we making things so difficult to share more equally??? After a little research, I learned about FareShare.org. FareShare is the national charity working to relieve food poverty by providing quality food and other support services to organisations working with disadvantaged people in the community. FareShare contributes towards 3.3 million meals to 12,000 people in over 420 community projects. Read this to make a donation or learn how your local grocery store can participate. |
Related Articles:
-Trash Challenge: Tess Vigeland takes a measure of how much garbage she sends to the landfill.
- a new term for me…..freeganism
- interesting article about packaging trends
Tom Brokaw – Seattle: Leaving some important topics on the cutting room floor
Last night I stood in line for 45 minutes of uncharacteristically cold Seattle weather to hear Tom Brokaw speak at Town Hall.
In short:
- He was a straight talker with a sharp point of view, I enjoyed hearing him speak; I bought his latest book, “Boom.”
- The conversation with the lecturer was like watching a rather unchallenging series of softball throws, each question easier than the next. It showed that the interviewer felt he didn’t have much to add to prior interviews or even a strong opinion about the book. Brokaw was gracious and gave solid answers.
- Seattle never fails to disappoint, giving floor time to unscreened questions on conspiracy theories.
Brokaw must have left confirmed in his opinion of the Radical West. One thing bothered me though: my own lack of gumption in getting up to ask a question I felt strongly about–how the 50s and 60s laid the groundwork for an unspoken epidemic of white collar layoffs the Boomers are now suffering through.
The Boomers grew up being catered to in marketing, dreamt big, lived through a war, questioned hard and took the opportunity to break the rules in the 60s, made it through a tough recession in the 70s, some would argue that many went from hippies to yuppies and reaped the benefits of the 80s. As a demographic, they are hard pressed to make it unscathed through the massive economic restructurings of the 90’s and early decades of 2000.
How then, can a book focused on “what happened in the 60s” not lay the groundwork for what is happening now in our workforce? According to a March 1996 series of articles in the New York Times, “The Downsizing of America,” 43 Million jobs have been lost since 1979 affecting nearly one-third of all households.
I patiently waited my turn for him to sign my copy while the person ahead of me wasted our collective time berating Brokaw for “not personalizing.” Brokaw briefly commented: “Layoffs, it’s a big topic, we’re going through that at NBC.” Gone was my opportunity for a more thoughtful response from someone with such a meaningful vantage point. Never again will I miss my chance on the platform.
Downsizing in America makes the case that….(excerpt from Amazon book review)
“the media tends to favor the dramatic figures from large, well-known manufacturers. Manufacturing in America has been in long-term decline since 1967 and manufacturers have steadily shed jobs. However, agriculture and manufacturing only provide employment for 15% of the population, so this segment is not a good proxy for the entire economy.”
“Downsizing”, it turns out, is corporate-speak for upsizing. Firms laid off one set of workers – disproportionately less-educated, older, female or parents of young children – and hired on another set, by implication younger, male and single. Was the resulting workforce more productive? No, there was no change in employee productivity. Moreover, non-managerial employees bore the brunt of the layoffs, so that claims to be ridding the company of “fat” actually increased the management-to-staff ratio.
Did investors reward companies for their action? Perception says that downsizing is followed by an increase in the stock price. The reality is that stock prices remain steady or decline after downsizing announcements.
So what were the benefits of downsizing? The authors come to a surprising, but authoritative conclusion. Downsizing announcements force down staff wages so that the firm retains more profit. Simple really, isn’t it?
The Wall Street Journal had a series of stories on the then epidemic of white collar layoffs, starting with the Kodak layoffs in the early 90s. They committed early on to print a story a week until someone stood up to do something, but after about 3 months, you just didn’t read about it anymore. It became the norm. The Dot Com Bubble made an art of such bolemic practices, bringing people in and letting them go, looking at this sort of hefty decision making as a growth opportunity for its management.
Other links on Brokaw:
- Interview with KUOW
- Interview with TVGuide
News articles on the downsizing of America:
- The Downsizing of America
- The Downsizing and Demoralizing of the American Workforce
- Benchmarking Study Report
No Purchase Month – Feb
So I’m prepping for February – not only the shortest month of the year, but the month I intend to not purchase. This is a yearly exercise I do to detach from the ongoing habit of consumption we find ourselves in. I only buy gas, pay my mortgage and pay bills – basically, keep from being put in jail.
The idea first came to me a few years ago when visiting family in Europe. We spent the entire day in each other’s company, did some sight-seeing, but barely spent any money. I looked over receipts and saw that there weren’t any for coffee in paper cups or other non necessities.
A great post from GoodExperience here. When was the last time you went a day without buying anything?
Wish I’d Thought Of It
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MyElectionChoices allows you to select statements from candidates and find out who you really support! |
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Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back. |
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www.gingerbreadusa.com/AboutUs.htmlThis Stoneham, MA company started by husband and wife team constructs gingerbread homes through an assembly line process. Each house is assembled by hand. They sell about 10,000 a year. |
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www.blisssoap.comLooks like bakery items, but it’s soap! |
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www.dogster.com www.catster.comA simple idea, essentially home pages for pets, has quickly been turning into the pefect niche advertising site.”We are dog freaks and computer geeks who wanted a canine sharing application that’s truly gone to the dogs. Such a site didn’t exist, so we built it ourselves. The fluffy love is backed with serious technology and years of coding experience under our collars. Dogster has since become more contagious than kennel cough.” |
OK, I’m In With Both Feet This Time…
I’ve blogged on and off now for a few years…but it’s never really stuck for lack of focus. I decided I needed a mission statement and a sentence or two about what I’m going to talk about. We sometimes heep so much pressure on ourselves to be Hemmingway…so, here goes:
I currently live in Seattle, like technology, .com goings on, cool marketing, interesting small companies who maintain an emphasis on preserving their cultures, marketing to women, entrepreneurism, micro-lending, and new trend in giving that is taking over everyone’s conversations. Throw in the complexities of working closely with other cultures, understanding and appreciating those cultures and I’m a happy girl.
Since all good things are better if you share them – I’ll post about the things I’m interested in.
Seamus Heaney…
Every now and then, I’m reminded about how similar we all are. How many of the same emotions, situations and daily activities have been noticed for the first time by someone, repeated by millions of us over time, and still resonate as “quaint” or personal.
I have a love affair with lectures…below are my notes and some background on a favorite poem translated by SH.
Background
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From a lecture by Seamus Heaney There is a fragmentary ninth century manuscript belonging to the monastery of St. Paul, Unterdrauberg (in southern Austria). Preserved in that manuscript, along with a Virgil commentary and some Greek paradigms, are Irish language poems – including the little poem about the scholar and his cat, Pangur Ban – perhaps noted down by a bored monkish copyist. That poem had no readership, and no influence, for one thousand years – until it was published by Stokes and Strachan in 1902.
It is now the most famous poem in the Irish language, and one of the best known and the best loved poems in the world – the various translations have been much anthologised, and practically every Irish poet has made her or his version. The Robin Flower translation was chosen by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes for their successful children’s anthology The Rattle Bag. A new translation, by Sean Hutton, Chair of the British Association for Irish Studies, will be found in Shaun Traynor, The Poolbeg Book of Irish Poetry for Children. In fact, in these days of the Internet, a simple way of discovering Irish language enthusiasts throughout the world is to start a Web search for ‘Pangur Ban’.Pangur Ban
I and Pangur Ban my cat,
‘Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
‘Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill-will,
He too plies his simple skill.
‘Tis a merry task to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.
Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur’s way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.
‘Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
‘Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.
When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!
So in peace our task we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.
– Anon., (Irish, 8th century)
