I looked at the movie that Bruno recommended, and it made me think about the real cost of things. Indeed we are nowadays able to buy goods which cost so little, it is hard to imagine that the cost one pays pays indeed for the work and materials that went into the making of the product.
When one thinks of selling the product of the own work, to price the product one considers all the costs: raw materials, time cost - how much time went into the making of the product- , tools cost - which tools are required, how much they cost and last -, premises - rental cost of the premises, including utility bills, even if one is working at home, these are costs that should be taken into consideration.
Now, you can argue that by making products in Asia or low cost countries, that you pay less for work, the raw materials having the same cost you achieve a lower cost product. this product still must be brought into our shops in the west, and that costs energy.
We take energy for granted. We go to the gas station, complain about the prices, fill up, turn our light switches on, and energy is always there. But just like any other product, when pricing energy one should take all factors into consideration.
But...how do you put a price on the production of oil or natural gas?
The price of research to find where the oil field is, the cost of getting a drilling platform to the place, people to drill it, and boats to get it to where it is needed (not mentioning the extra costs due to political situations), but, what about the raw material cost? How much does it cost to really produce the oil that is there under the ground? sometime in the past huge forests had to be grown and huge amounts of time had to be invested - by nature - in order for us to have that oil there. We are consuming the work nature did during millions of years, and we are not paying back the real value that nature deserves.
It is just like if we get someone to make the most elaborate work, takes him, days, moths, years to finish it, and at the end, we pat him on the back, and kick him out of the door with no reward, consuming the work of all that time in one afternoon. The result...not only we did not truly appreciate the result, but after all that time with no proper pay...there is nobody that can do the same work...
Is it fair to abuse nature like this?
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6 comments:
I have used so much of the natural resources and I feel guilty about it.. thus, when I die, I want my body to be decomposed but not in a graveyard, perhaps in a garden.. I want you guys to plant an apple tree for me in that spot..
and I think graveyards are a waste of space with very nutricious soil.. they should be converted into fruit forests :)
that's a good point :) actually i think our dying and being burried on the floor was once part of a natural process of reconversion which has now been interrupted, by keeping bodies in restricted areas or burning them... i always thought i wanted to be burnt... be i'm starting to change my mind... : )
Manfred (Neo) has joined the blog.
First reuse the still usable parts for whomever needs it, then let the rest go back to where it came from...that is what I want :)
Welcome Manfred!!
I have just recycled a teapot! :) and Alex has recycled a mobile phone by replacing the empty battery with the battery of another used phone.. such things may look small but it's amatter of gaining the habit..
hi manfred!
Since we are talking about how to dispose of dead people in an environmentally friendly way, I feel compelled to point out that cannibalism is also an excellent solution! Based on a fine ecological tradition present both in the New and in the Old World, the conversion of dead humans into a source of protein should not be overlooked. Or at least into high-quality animal feed for -exempli gratia- pigs.
One should be careful to avoid the brain though: it has been known to cause unpleasant diseases like kuru.
interesting as it may sound, from a culinary point of view, let's not get carried away :)
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