Gadgets take over

Like it or not, gadgets are invading every part of our life. Not all of them are useful in the real sense. For jobs that could well be done by our grey cells, we now rely on PDAs and calculators. For dusting homes, we now have vacuum cleaners which end up in corners gathering dust, simply because using them is time consuming! Not least ridiculous and dependent, is how to hop over to the next street, we now need cars!

Gadgets run on power. So, as we deplete our fossil fuel reserves, we are adding up items that now draw power from the grid.

TreeHugger recently had a post on a very unique group that originated in San Francisco two years ago with a handful of people and now has 8000 members. Called the Compact, the ‘un-consumer’ group members pledge to buy nothing new for a year, except for a few essentials.

The group’s founder John Perry had this to say: Before, my family—me, my partner and two kids—probably spent $200 a month on things we bought without thinking. When we stopped doing that, we freed up money for other things. Now we overpay the mortgage every month, and we give more to charity.

It was once believed that the US economy (or any other free market one) stood on the solid pillars of public spending (or splurging) but not anymore. ‘Runaway consumption and depletion of natural resources is going to have a worse impact than some middle-class people deciding they are going to stop buying things!’

But, the interesting and funny point is the last line in the post where the writer speaks of ecological footprint having dire eco consequences. His concern, as is that of many in the developed world, is the picture of the billions in China and India ‘consuming the way we do’!!!

That annoying point aside, how about ‘un-consuming’ for a month? We are generating a lot of unnecessary waste, aren’t we? A recent news report threw the question of what do we do with our old chargers as we keep buying new mobiles?

Any thoughts?