Zur #Nachhaltigkeit von #Hardware trägt Langlebigkeit und daher auch deren Reparierbarkeit wesentlich bei. In Frankreich müssen Geräte-Hersteller auf der Verpackung eine Reparierbarkeitsnote angeben. Ersatzteile und Reparaturanleitungen müssen z.B. mind. 7 Jahre verfügbar gemacht werden, um eine gute Note beim "Indice de réparabilité" zu erreichen. So auch beim #Smartphone.
(1/x) 🧵
Oder was fehlt uns sonst, um mehr Bewusstsein für das wachsende Nachhaltigkeitsproblem in der Digitalisierung hinsichtlich #Smart-Geräte und #Hardware insgesamt zu erlangen?
This event looks awesome, although pretty spendy (700euros virtual, double that for on-site in Berlin 🙀) – could be cool if you can get your employer to pay!
Going Sane in a Crazy World
Richard Heinberg May 14, 2024
"...The consequences of our adoption of consumerist, growth-seeking industrialism will ultimately be a crash—hopefully only partial and temporary—of society and nature. That’s not a crystal-ball prophecy; it’s a mathematical near-certainty given the fundamental contradiction between the ways in which ecosystems work and the ways modern industrial societies work. In fact, the crash has already started (via climate change, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss)...
As humanity encounters serious impacts from its collective craziness, people whose mental health is already at risk will likely suffer more than others. But even otherwise psychologically stable people will be emotionally challenged as their eco-social context is disrupted or shattered..."
What’s the Point?
By Tom Murphy, originally published by Do the Math May 15, 2024
"...Once dropping the problematic cosmology that defines the point of life in terms of human “accomplishment” in the narrow context of modernity, a universe of other values systems becomes available to offer sustenance. To think otherwise is to arrogantly assume that thousands of generations of humans who came before were miserable because they had not found their “special purpose.” Modernists are nodding, because this sounds right according to their mythology. But that strikes me as delusional bull$#!+! Joy is part of the package of being human, and always has been! Likewise, all the other plants and animals of the world are not frikin’ miserable because they lack modernity! I could turn the tables and say that the modernity disease produces far more misery (for all life) than any other worldview that has ever existed on the planet..."
Sustainable Infrastructure
May 16th to June 20th 2024
About this course:
Managing land ecologically is a resource-intense activity which requires finding a balance between consumption, ecological impact, and financial solvency. This course will provide practical answers on balancing these often complex and sometimes competing needs. Sustainable Infrastructure centers student understanding on the fundamentals of farm and ranch scale energy systems, material choices, and waste management. We will explore how to design, maintain and manage energy systems, integrate cyclic waste management strategies, and evaluate and find low-impact materials for landed projects.
'In “Cotton–Cork Blended Fabric: An Innovative and Sustainable Apparel Textile for the Fashion Industry,” published in April in the peer-reviewed journal Sustainability, the duo compared the material properties of a cotton fabric to a 10 percent-cork fabric, which is also a natural and sustainable material. The cotton-cork blend was found to be strong, pliable, easily dyed, and resistant to shrinkage.”'
Parallels Between Archaic Entrepots and Modern Offshore Banking Centers
By Michael Hudson, originally published by Resilience.org May 10, 2024
"...To create such enclaves has been an objective of mercantile capital through the ages. It patronizes the world’s politically weakest areas as long as they do not do what real governments do: regulate their economies. The search for “neutral territory” expressed itself already in the chalcolithic epoch, many millennia before private enterprise developed as we know it. The result of this impetus is that neolithic towns...and the biblical cities of refuge share the following important common denominator with today’s offshore banking centers: Instead of being centers of local governing, legal, and military power, they were politically neutral sites established outside the jurisdictions of local governments..."
Dr. Seuss and the weight-loss drug craze - By Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights
May 12, 2024
"...The obesity epidemic is being driven by industrial chemicals known as endocrine disruptors in the environment that make their way into humans via the air, the water & the food supply... Many industrial chemicals mimic endocrine chemicals in the body thereby interfering with the body’s signaling system.
...We have a system that creates widespread obesity through chemical poisoning and then sells people weight-loss drugs to take off the excess weight. When the drugs are discontinued, the weight comes back.
...Ironically, these drugs work by interfering with the body’s appetite control system by making people feel less hungry and more full. This is the same system that endocrine disruptors interfere with in the opposite manner..."
I finally got around to getting off of Substack and I just published my weekly list of #CleanEnergy, #Climate, and #Sustainability Jobs on Ghost for the first time. Happy to move to a platform that doesn’t directly support nazis.
Interesting article, but with some issues (carbon fibre cargo bikes may exist, but I have never encountered one). Clearly a subject that needs more research, esp. on systemic impacts: ebikes are known to actually replace car use.
An important thing to tackle would be regulation for standards and interoperability, especially with eBike systems. https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/02/can-we-make-bicycles-sustainable-again/
What Can We Learn From the Ruins of Gary, Indiana?
Exploring deindustrialization by Matthew Christopher May 3, 2024
"...To understand the root of Gary’s problems, we have to understand why it was built in the first place. Gary was founded in 1906 by United States Steel on approximately 10,000 acres of swampland it had covertly purchased. Unlike other American cities that had a more organic evolution, Gary’s sole purpose was to manufacture steel at Gary Works. ...Gary was a metropolis born of the ruthless pragmatism of railway lines and shipping routes—not quality of life...
...In 1973, a recession in the global steel market led to drastic decreases in steel prices and mill closures across the country. The effects were severe and long-lasting, and steel towns were among the hardest hit...
...It’s a warning, a monument to loss....It’s really a shame to see everything that you grew up with gone.”
A Shareable explainer: What is the Solidarity Economy?
By Emily Kawano, originally published by Shareable May 9, 2024
"...Here are some key differences between the sharing economy and the solidarity economy:
Profit orientation: ...the solidarity economy actively seeks to downplay or redistribute profits to stakeholders and community members...
Community engagement: The solidarity economy is deeply rooted in community engagement and empowerment, aiming to improve local resilience and economic democracy...
Governance: Solidarity economy initiatives typically involve democratic or participatory governance, with stakeholders involved in decision-making...
Sustainability and equity goals: The solidarity economy explicitly aims for social and environmental sustainability and equity. While sharing economy platforms might contribute to resource efficiency, these outcomes are not always the primary goal..."
FOSS - ensuring even new hardware stays in use when vendor-support eventually ends!
Whether or not you install GNU/Linux on it today, your new #Mac will eventually lose #Apple support. Thanks to the impressive work of #Asahi#Linux project (@AsahiLinux), it will not need to end up in the landfill once it does.