At 02:22 PM Tuesday 9/9/2008, Jon Louis Mann wrote:
>[snip for brevity]
>
>Sarcasm is the lingua franca of the internet, John.
As I noted a few hours ago on another list, on
one of the lists I am on there is one prolific
poster who frequently claims that he speaks
sarcasm as a second language . . . then there are
those of us who grew up with it as our milk tongue . . . :D
>[snip for brevity]
>
>I purchased my first brand new laptop over four
>years ago, my car was new in 1979, and I've
>owned the same television for over eight years.
Is it digital-ready? As I've mentioned before,
one way of looking at that is as a way that the
manufacturers of the equipment and the providers
of programming have come up with to get some more
money out of those who have been living too long
with a perfectly adequate (for them)
over-eight-year-old TV with rabbit ears or a
rooftop antenna which were long ago paid for.
> My next automobile will be energy
> efficient. In the meantime, I ride my bike and
> take the bus. I recycle as much waste as I
> can, and no longer eat meat three times a
> day. I got rid of my cell phone, and access
> free WiFi at the library. I shop at Goodwill and the Salvation Army.
It's nice that you do that voluntarily to
conserve resources, but what about those of us
who have had to do many of those things for years
because of the economy, which continues to get
worse? Also note that no matter why we do that,
it's not a sustainable lifestyle for
everyone: we can't shop at thrift stores unless
there are enough people who can buy new stuff and
then replace it with new stuff before it is worn
out so they can donate still-useable stuff to the
thrift store where we can buy it for a price we
can afford, so we are dependent on those who have
more money and are willing to spend it to keep
the process going. And there are lots of things
everyone must purchase new rather than used
food comes to mind (eww! X;{) and even the
price of peanut butter and ramen three times a
day keeps going up (not to mention the cost of
water and electricity or gas to prepare the latter).
>Eventually I will convert to solar and wind
>energy, and be completely off the grid,
Options which for the foreseeable future are only
available to those with significant disposable
income to purchase and install the hardware.
>plant an organic garden
It takes a lot of work to become self-sufficient,
particularly if one eschews the use of technology
and modern fertilizer and pesticides. Not
everyone can do that or even make any significant progress in that direction.
>and have my own well.
Ditto in requiring $$$ to purchase land with a
good water table (or if you already own it you
may be considered significantly better off than
most in the US, much less the rest of the
world). And what population density can the land
support if each household has its own well?
. . . ronn! :)
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