I had a spark—a midnight epiphany if you will. Fond memories of a time not so long ago: the sizzle of hot flux, the smell of solder, the clatter of tools on a busy workbench. The satisfaction of reanimating a dead coffee machine—a small act of defiance against a world that demands we discard and consume instead of repair and reclaim. A world where repair was expected, not rejected—instinctive, practical, untainted by a synthetic “green” ideology. A world where repair, repurpose, and reuse was a way of life, not some empty corporate mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Empty, because the emphasis is on recycling—so we can keep buying the newest, shiniest model. Our Greenwashed brains are stuck in limbo, chanting the unholy trinity of consumerism disguised as sustainability. The mantra that keeps us so busy, so distracted, that we do not see the corporate grift behind the ideological rot we are being fed.
Environmentalism, once a call to genuine stewardship, has been hijacked—twisted into a facade of eco-consciousness while corporations rake in profits from their most insidious practices. Planned obsolescence. The printer that suddenly refuses to recognize an old cartridge because it is chipped with an arbitrary expiry. The phone that is designed to die just in time for the next upgrade because the battery is hard-wired and glued in. The deliberate incompatibility, the artificial scarcity, the forced redundancy, arbitrary “best before” dates, the sheer amount of bullshit we are fed to keep us buying–Ad nauseam!
Absolutely—reduce, reuse, and recycle—but be aware that focusing on recycling does not absolve us from the responsibility of being responsible consumers, nor does it erase our complicity in waste colonialism. Much of our so-called “recycling” is not recycled at all—we pay poorer countries to take our waste, where it is dumped and burned. It’s cheaper to offload our trash than to actually recycle it. SHS: speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil!
Out of sight—out of mind, right? Just remember—it is their country, but our planet, and there is no planet B!
#Greenwashing #Environmentalism
“Industrialised countries not only outsource a majority of their often environmentally hazardous production processes to poorer countries, but they also dispose of considerable amounts of waste there. The consequences are disastrous for the affected regions – and for the whole world.” M, Jedelhauser (23 05 2023). The rich countries practice waste colonialism. DANDC. https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/industrialised-countries-are-disposing-large-volumes-their-waste-poorer-countrie
That’s crazy!