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cadfaelReading the Sunday papers and reading the news on CNN's website I was struck by a recurring thought I 've had since I was a kid prowling the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
We produce a wide range of goods and services in this country and in the industrialized world. We have access to the finest minds on the planet. I am mystified, for example, that we cannot produce a subway system in NYC that does not make everyone deaf (over time) caused by the screeching of metal on metal. Or why we allow automobiles and trucks to produce and release so much pollution into the atmosphere.
Put concisely, why don't we design products in a manner that helps the world population live more in harmony with nature. Please don't tell me its the profit motive of business executive like the asshat VP currently in office. That is too easy an answer.
I know that my blood plasma has not yet been fully replaced by coffee yet, so I haven't expressed this so well. But, I would be willing to contact my elected representatives and ask them THE question if we could articulate it properly.
Please have at it, whatcha think?
We produce a wide range of goods and services in this country and in the industrialized world. We have access to the finest minds on the planet. I am mystified, for example, that we cannot produce a subway system in NYC that does not make everyone deaf (over time) caused by the screeching of metal on metal. Or why we allow automobiles and trucks to produce and release so much pollution into the atmosphere.
Put concisely, why don't we design products in a manner that helps the world population live more in harmony with nature. Please don't tell me its the profit motive of business executive like the asshat VP currently in office. That is too easy an answer.
I know that my blood plasma has not yet been fully replaced by coffee yet, so I haven't expressed this so well. But, I would be willing to contact my elected representatives and ask them THE question if we could articulate it properly.
Please have at it, whatcha think?
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-14 09:13 am (UTC)But the simple answer is corporations need to be led--to be shown that environmentally friendly = more profits. Thats a hard thing to prove. But take the subway example of noisy screeching rails--how do you prove that making a quiet rail benefits society and makes more profit (since society is also the one demanding profit)?
You take into consideration the cost of design improvements offset by the cost savings in healthcare (less hearing aids needed, etc) and show there is a net benefit.
Only when we come together and demand profit AND responsible design will change occur. We are the enemy and the friend.