Had a friend who spent the winter in Mexico a few years ago, and she photographed peddlers selling identical plastic baskets and buckets. Are they all made in China? Interesting scenes.
I wouldn't be surprised if it is all made in China, Jeff. There's a very interesting link on my sidebar to The Story of Stuff. If you haven't seen it yet, do check it out. Makes one wonder about the systems we've created and how much longer we can/should keep doing what we're doing.
Checked out The Story of Stuff, and couldn't agree more. In Mexico the Chinese plastic is replacing locally made pottery putting thousands of workers out of work. In 2011 our state laid off 90 faculty and staff from my university while approving an oil pipe line that has every possibility of polluting the world's largest aquifer. Interesting how a single photograph of a peddler can trigger a whole economics discussion.
It doesn't take much to get me started. There are reminders almost everywhere that the systems we have created (how do I say this nicely?) could be better. For which university do you work/study? I spent the majority of my career working at universities. Now I'll have to look up the world's largest aquifer and find out about this pipe line. There's an organization in Vienna that I've long felt should have a stronger voice: the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) to help us figure out what we are doing and how to do it better.
Had a friend who spent the winter in Mexico a few years ago, and she photographed peddlers selling identical plastic baskets and buckets. Are they all made in China? Interesting scenes.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if it is all made in China, Jeff. There's a very interesting link on my sidebar to The Story of Stuff. If you haven't seen it yet, do check it out. Makes one wonder about the systems we've created and how much longer we can/should keep doing what we're doing.
ReplyDeleteChecked out The Story of Stuff, and couldn't agree more. In Mexico the Chinese plastic is replacing locally made pottery putting thousands of workers out of work. In 2011 our state laid off 90 faculty and staff from my university while approving an oil pipe line that has every possibility of polluting the world's largest aquifer. Interesting how a single photograph of a peddler can trigger a whole economics discussion.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take much to get me started. There are reminders almost everywhere that the systems we have created (how do I say this nicely?) could be better. For which university do you work/study? I spent the majority of my career working at universities. Now I'll have to look up the world's largest aquifer and find out about this pipe line. There's an organization in Vienna that I've long felt should have a stronger voice: the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) to help us figure out what we are doing and how to do it better.
ReplyDelete