Annie Leonard is back with another engaging and frightening look at how our disposable electronics are trashing the earth. The concept is that our favorite gadgets are “designed for the dump,” because they’re “hard to upgrade, easy to break, and impracticable to repair.” For instance, her DVD player broke and the fix-it guy wanted $50 just to look at it. Why bother when you can get a new one at Target for $39? Something about this system has got to change. [More]
stuff
Consumers Reevaluating Their Decision To Pay To Store A Bunch of Junk
By 9.8.09
The NYT has a 6-page story about the self-storage phenomenon, the effect of which was to make us grateful for the internet because were we to have to physically store these NYT Magazine features we’d be destitute. In any case, its an interesting article. If you’ve ever wondered what people were doing with all the crap they were buying in the last decade — well, a lot of it ended up in storage.
Don't Buy These Worthless Pieces Of Junk …Or Should You?
By 7.15.09
Over at WalletPop, they’ve made a lovely slideshow of what are, in their opinion, the “20 Most Worthless Pieces of Junk.” A few, I agree with, and most of them I quite emphatically don’t. Living without books or an iron would be such a fundamental change in my life that I can’t contemplate it.
Beanie Baby Futures: Slightly Better Investment Than Bernie Madoff
By 5.15.09
Last year, I visited my parents to help clear out the house we had lived in since 1984. One of my more cuddly tasks was to sort the three garbage bags full of Beanie Babies hanging out in the closet of my childhood bedroom. Most of them found new homes in the garage sale, or were donated to charity.
Public Storage Reimburses Soldier for Selling His Stuff
By 2.9.07
Back in January a solidier returned from Iraq to find that Public Storage had sold everything he owned. As a settlement they offered him $2,500, but the soldier estimated his stuff was worth about 8k.
Millions Donated by Gareth Morgan, Benevolent Kiwi
By 4.4.06
A New Zealand investment banker has donated $47 mil to charity.
