Thank you for your really informative comment. It’s wonderful to hear that I’m not alone in banging the drum for older is more durable and often all round better.
Aug 19, 2023·edited Aug 19, 2023Liked by Irina Metzler
What a fantastic article! I love the way it calls out the hypocrisy of all the climate change, fake recycling etc. propaganda of today. Some years ago, I realized that everything is blamed on we individual citizens, and always by wealthy folks living in giant McMansions and flying on private jets, thus using more resources than most people. (They can all go to Hell.) Eat less meat! Take shorter showers, with a low-flow shower head. Use less heat! Don’t cool off in the summer! Smaller toilet tanks to save water (so we can flush twice, what a farce). Don’t water your yard/flowers/garden! Buy an electric car! Recycle plastic crap! And on & on, while corporations use all the energy and create all the pollution they want. I agree 100% with all of Tardigrade’s comments. (Full disclosure: I am the sister with the vintage stuff.) My cook stove is 1950. My clothes washer is a 1975 Maytag, which cleans the clothes better & faster than my previous new front-loader. My food blender is mid-1960’s. Many of my kitchen utensils are vintage, as they work so well, and last. Most of my furniture is vintage or antique. Once I obtain a piece of old furniture that I like, I never replace it…why would I? All of this stuff was already manufactured long ago, so this is ‘real’ recycling. Estate sales, yard sales, second-hand stores, etc. are great sources for finding stuff. Including clothing, and linens, which is now almost all cheap crap, made to be disposable like everything else. Does anyone else here remember making your own clothes, and mending same? And the prices can be amazingly low! I hope my 2006 Subaru Outback keeps going, as it has no computer screen on the dash. I wish I could own a 1960’s vehicle, but I’ve no qualified mechanic to work on it. It’s a good feeling, once you realize you don’t need most of your ‘stuff’, which we mostly bought due to successful marketing propaganda.
The more of your stuff I read, the more I feel we are kindred spirits.
Being as old as dirt, I can remember when things actually lasted. My sister has mostly vintage appliances, because they don't break. They might not be as "energy efficient", but as you point out, embodied energy counts too. There is a whole subculture of vintage product enthusiasts, so they can be more expensive than the new stuff, and it can be hard to find parts.
The best I've been able to do for myself is to avoid high-tech stuff. The fancier it is, the more easily it breaks. I managed to find a new "retro" gas range that only uses electricity to run the simple analog clock that is the only item on the backguard. I can still cook when the power goes out, which is not infrequent around here.
My house is made of straw bales, built myself with my brother's help (actually vice versa!) Floors are adobe, made by me alone, with local materials. Rudimentary heating, no cooling system, despite living in a very hot desert environment.
Marketing/advertising is just another form of propaganda/brainwashing. We've been trained from childhood that we need all kinds of crap that we don't really need, that don't improve our lives much, and the pursuit of which mostly adds work and stress. I envy the people who figured this out before they were as old as dirt.
Thank you for your really informative comment. It’s wonderful to hear that I’m not alone in banging the drum for older is more durable and often all round better.
What a fantastic article! I love the way it calls out the hypocrisy of all the climate change, fake recycling etc. propaganda of today. Some years ago, I realized that everything is blamed on we individual citizens, and always by wealthy folks living in giant McMansions and flying on private jets, thus using more resources than most people. (They can all go to Hell.) Eat less meat! Take shorter showers, with a low-flow shower head. Use less heat! Don’t cool off in the summer! Smaller toilet tanks to save water (so we can flush twice, what a farce). Don’t water your yard/flowers/garden! Buy an electric car! Recycle plastic crap! And on & on, while corporations use all the energy and create all the pollution they want. I agree 100% with all of Tardigrade’s comments. (Full disclosure: I am the sister with the vintage stuff.) My cook stove is 1950. My clothes washer is a 1975 Maytag, which cleans the clothes better & faster than my previous new front-loader. My food blender is mid-1960’s. Many of my kitchen utensils are vintage, as they work so well, and last. Most of my furniture is vintage or antique. Once I obtain a piece of old furniture that I like, I never replace it…why would I? All of this stuff was already manufactured long ago, so this is ‘real’ recycling. Estate sales, yard sales, second-hand stores, etc. are great sources for finding stuff. Including clothing, and linens, which is now almost all cheap crap, made to be disposable like everything else. Does anyone else here remember making your own clothes, and mending same? And the prices can be amazingly low! I hope my 2006 Subaru Outback keeps going, as it has no computer screen on the dash. I wish I could own a 1960’s vehicle, but I’ve no qualified mechanic to work on it. It’s a good feeling, once you realize you don’t need most of your ‘stuff’, which we mostly bought due to successful marketing propaganda.
The more of your stuff I read, the more I feel we are kindred spirits.
Being as old as dirt, I can remember when things actually lasted. My sister has mostly vintage appliances, because they don't break. They might not be as "energy efficient", but as you point out, embodied energy counts too. There is a whole subculture of vintage product enthusiasts, so they can be more expensive than the new stuff, and it can be hard to find parts.
The best I've been able to do for myself is to avoid high-tech stuff. The fancier it is, the more easily it breaks. I managed to find a new "retro" gas range that only uses electricity to run the simple analog clock that is the only item on the backguard. I can still cook when the power goes out, which is not infrequent around here.
My house is made of straw bales, built myself with my brother's help (actually vice versa!) Floors are adobe, made by me alone, with local materials. Rudimentary heating, no cooling system, despite living in a very hot desert environment.
Marketing/advertising is just another form of propaganda/brainwashing. We've been trained from childhood that we need all kinds of crap that we don't really need, that don't improve our lives much, and the pursuit of which mostly adds work and stress. I envy the people who figured this out before they were as old as dirt.
Off-topic, but I thought this might be of interest to you.
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/bbc-declares-black-women-most-likely