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Yes, I thought of the issue of the cheap goods that we buy that don't last
long, but that we depend on when yesterday my telephone (landline) started
dieing. My first thought was, I haven't had it THAT long, second thought was
time to get a new one(actually set of two, one for upstairs, the other for
downstairs) and then I thought of the green conversation on this list and
realized that is another key component- all of the cheap things that I see
at the Dollar Store and even over packaged products in the department stores
and grocery stores.  I don't shop at Wal Mart but I do get cheap things
sometimes such as a phones.  These came from Radio Shack. Sometimes I buy
things with too much packaging but I do compost and reuse plastic containers
several times before recycling them.  We eat low on the food chain so I
would say we are moderate greenies. I loved Al Gore's movie and I am excited
that finally this conversation is more mainstream than in the past. I think
that every day I hear conversations or references to something having to do
with living greener (even if it is people complaining about the cost of gas)
and it is also evidenced by the flood of conversation here.  I think we are
on the brink of major changes because of technology. It starts with
awareness and conversations.  Actions that are practical might come after a
few "experiments" but it creates the climate for creativity and innovation,
which is what gets me excited.  I don't think we need to worry about how
impractical the ideas are or how silly they might sound.  If we worried
about those things then we wouldn't have the great inventions and advances
that we have today. Who knows?...
Evanna Morris,
Lancaster Science Factory

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Natasha Aristov" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 2:53 PM
Subject: green exhibits and consuming less


> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
>
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*
>
> I agree with everything that's been said on the topic of being green
> on this list so far.  I live pretty green -- one reason for my
> staying in Germany longer than the original planned one or two years
> (it's been 17 now, total) is the fact that it's much easier to leave
> a much smaller environmental footprint in this particular
> society.  But that's not my main point at the moment.
>
> Another aspect of this problem, and one well worth examining in an
> informal education setting, is the dependence of much of the world's
> economies on our (US and Europeans) consumption habits.
>
> It's not just a simple issue of not buying what you don't need, it's
> also an issue of finding ways of raising the standards of living in
> the developing world without resorting to producing short-lived goods.
>
> And not just that!  What are we going to do with the folks who run
> the stores that sell us the goods?  The folks who are building and
> maintaining the shopping malls?
>
> Yeah, OK.  We finally DO rebuild the railroads.  What do we do once
> the railroads are finished?  I can think of any number of public
> works projects -- there are enough "bad" neighborhoods to fix up and
> certainly other messes to clean -- but these would be more or less
> all government sponsored or government initiated projects (that's ok
> with ME, I'm a Commie (well, kind of rosy pink), but not with the most of
us).
>
> I think that presenting the intricacies of the global environmental
> issues and the global economic issues would make for a  pretty
> interesting -- pretty darn complicated!! -- undertaking.
>
> In the meantime, let us, in fact, DO consume less -- there are still
> enough people out there who "NEED" another electronic toy to feed
> quite a few workers of the world.
>
> Natasha Aristov
> PH Ludwigsburg
> Germany
>
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