Smart products can save the planet

csmonitor?! I think we can safely ignore them; they're just
waiting for the rapture and don't care what happens in the meantime.
.
_H*

 

The groundwork for these concepts was laid by Amory Lovins, et al., and the Rocky Mountain Institute. As discussed in "Factor Four," if you want to double your profit, then double your efficiency. There are no secrets other than Toyota and Honda are moving forward thinking long term while Detroit has continued to feed at the trough thinking short term and never looked up.

Ernst von Weizacker, Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins (1998). Factor Four: Doubling Wealth - Halving Resource Use: A Report to the Club of Rome, $30 from Amazon.com

 

There are quirks in the world and one is that a church publishes one of the best newspapers in the world (it is not an evangelistic paper). They do not use newswire services. In the current age of corporate conglomerate new agencies CS Monitor is refreshing.

 

Good article. I've been pleasently surprised by CS Monitor. Over the years I've run into several articles there that I've enjoyed and thought were very reasonable and balanced.

There is definitely at least an under current among many large corporations to get green. GE, IBM, and Walmart to name a few of the biggest. Of these I think that GE is the most ambitious. The "Ecomagination" initiative is pretty cool and refreshing to see.

 

The story's real message is much less positive than its lead: It basically says, "gee, these corporations are so huge that they'll have to to take the lead if our economy is going to be made environmentally sustainable." Whether they ARE taking the lead is very much in doubt, since the only example cited is Toyota. It's an interesting idea for an article, but it needs a lot more depth in the reporting to be convincing.

 

You can make a very good argument for GE (frankly, I'm surprised that they only got a brief mention in the article. Honda should have been mentioned as well). IBM is buying a lot of RECs as are many other corps. Most of the huge jump in REC (Renewable Engery Credits) purchases is attributable to the private sector as well as residential (on a small scale though participation is definitely up).

 

Wise words, indeed.

I find that especially for things like responsible personal purchasing and even investing, I go with companies that "get it". Toyota, Apple, Google, Trader Joe's (TJ's is privately owned, unfortunately) are definitely part of that bunch... they are efficient, friendly, and provide value to the customer. They don't generally skimp on quality or ethics to cut their prices, instead provide value at all levels of the money chain.

Compare/contrast to places like Walmart, Dell or Macdonalds, where bottom price is achieved at ALL costs. I avoid such lowballers like the plague... they may put out a good product/service occasionally but it is unsustainable (eventually they either raise prices after competition withers, or their quality suffers as their competition doesn't go away).

The Prius fits right in with my buying/investment principles.... good car, sustainable/maintanable, good ethics.

 

Interestingly, Walmart is buying up RECs and installing green energy in pilot stores. How much of it is publicity is hard to tell, but they are sinking some money into it. Why? Because, like you mentioned, they wanna save money at ALL costs. It's very encouraging (in sort of a twisted way perhaps) to see this happening because it suggests that we might be on the cusp of renewables making sense to the bottom line crowd.

 

I'm so with you on Walmart! :lol:

 

"Smart products can save the planet" - but only if people actually buy and USE them...

 

Hmm. Thinking long term and social capitalism.

Works for me.

Now as a consumer, it will be my job to support those companies that are following this policy and shun those that don't. I put my money where my mouth is and bought a Prius.

It's only through the mighty dollar that those that don't currently think long term will 'get it'. If they get it fast enough...they'll live. If they don't....they'll go bankrupt, get bought out or just go away.

Economic Darwinism.

That works for me too.

 

gee lot of animosity over an organization that imm has stated exactly what i and i suspect many others feel about the Prius.

sure they may not hit the nail on the head on all counts but i tell you what... Toyota ad writers could not have done a better job

 

The lower class can not afford Apple products, the Toyota Prius or to shop at Trader Joe's. The majority of people are lower class so the 'social capitalists' had better start lowering prices or paying a higher wage if they want to save the planet.

 

Guess I'm not lower class then, eh? I don't however think that people desperately need any of the companies I mentioned above. Take for example, my sister who's in college. She bought a used Echo (for like $5K), and loves it like crazy. It's probably lost only like $500 or so in value since she got it a year ago, and it drives great and gets decent (30+) mpg. She'd like a prius but will wait until she gets out of college.

I'd agree with you, wages need to increase, especially since we're getting hit with some pretty big inflation coming up (simply looking at energy and healthcare cost increases over the last 5 years nets you something like a 30%+ inflation for that sector).

I support political candidates that believe in higher minimum wages and lower inflation... do you?