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I’m commenting on this with no prior knowledge of the topic. Why? Because I don’t have the patience to sit through a video. I’d rather read plain text, and get to the point in 1/3 the time. My hometown TV station’s website does this too – video only on some key topics. Cripes I’ll watch the news if I want to sit through a video.
So, what the hell is wrong in the Congo now?
Not certain about that advertisement’s accuracy.
I don’t know about this, I like having conflicted electronics. Just not any of that shit from Microsoft. How about Cisco’s new mini-pad?? I guess it’s for those light days.
#41 The Cisco Cius looks like it’s geared to be a “business” pad supporting things like Cisco’s video and meeting services.
#39 Not sure what your point of reference is Pedrito.
Unlike sheeple, I look at each issue individually and revise my position as conditions change. I am truly meant to lead.
What’s next? Save the mud reactionaries? Dirt huggers? Dig, baby, dig?
The chances are good that your own body is not conflict mineral free.
The gold crown on your tooth is a prime example. The chances that it contains zero gold atoms that were not ever murdered over, genocided over or yanked illegally from its rightful owners at some time in history is virtually nil.
Gold fingerprinting (mass spectrometry) is able to test every tooth in every mouth for conflict mineral presence. Perhaps we should start there.
Putting the screws to users of fresh conflict minerals is a good way of circumventing this trade’s ability to fuel warmongers, and tests to any batch can determine its provenance.
So as you stand in line for a smartphone or settle into your dentist’s chair for some work, you’re faced with the same conflict. Welcome to globalization.
#28 – bobbo,
But your main point is wanting to reduce unsustainable consumerism? Why do you want to do that?
Because we live on a finite planet. Converting raw materials to landfill is not sustainable. One cannot necessarily take landfill as input and get goods out anymore than one can take hamburger as input and get cows out. Some processes are one way; some can go back, but only at great cost; very few can go either way at will. We live in a society dedicated to throwing resources away to make room for new ones in the house. Is your TV more than a few years old, time to replace it. Mine is probably over 10 years old. I have no intention of replacing it before it dies. My car is 18 years old and running strong. I have no intention of replacing it before it dies.
The resources to make ever more products and throw them into landfills are not unending.
So, while I recognize that some level of consumerism is always going to be around, Consumerism as a religion and as an end in and of itself must end. That which is unsustainable will not be sustained.
Scott–you really are making things up to have an argument. The key: what you may call wasteful spending is enjoying the fruits of their labor to someone else. Your old tv and car can be seen as wasteful consumerism by someone saving money for his first used bicycle.
As I stated above (did I?–smile) consumerism is a tautology. The marketplace/free enterprise controls. One kind of consumerism gets replaced by another one. If I have no kiddies, can I take more than a 3 minute shower in the morning? If my tv is 20 years old, can I build a new computer every 3 years? Can I cover my croissants with a new sheet of aluminum foil or should I reuse an old one?
Scott, sad to say, you are just a eco-nazi trying to force your particular spending habits on everyone else.
Let the marketplace rule.