All that glitters is not gold
June 16, 2008 by Eugene
Filed under Singapore, Waste and Materials
The PC Show over the weekend saw the annual ritual of mass purchase of IT products in Singapore with first-day sales of $3.5 million and $51.7 million in sales over four days. While citizens in other Asian countries gather in masses to protest about rising oil and food prices and worry about their livelihoods, Singaporeans gather in masses to worry about which laptop or plasma TV to buy and protest about having to cover three floors of IT products (the exhibition space was doubled this year to cater for a record 600 exhibitors).
Who cares about the recession and financial crisis? Who cares about increasing oil and food prices? Who cares about our love for electronic stuff that creates e-waste problems? Who cares about the large amount of paper waste generated? It seems that these problems are not our concerns.
Consider the idea of sufficiency before buying electronic products. Sufficiency is about what is needed, just enough and not too much. Do you need to surround your life with all these electronic stuff? If the old one is working, why do you need to buy a new one? Also consider what happens to the discarded electronic stuff. Does it go to the landfill? Is it given to a secondhand dealer for reuse? Is it sent for proper recycling? Or does it end up in developing countries? Next time when you visit an IT exhibition, think again before buying.
Quotes from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare:
All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Similar PostsSo may the outward shows be least themselves:
The world is still deceived with ornament.
Loading ...
With the decrease in price of acceptable laptops i tend to think of them as throw away items now and buy a new budget one every year!