Kamila Pope

Understanding Planned Obsolescence: Unsustainability Through Production, Consumption and Waste Management by Kamila Pope is a dissertation on the current trend in economics. Pope is an Environmental Law and Bio-law lecturer, researcher, and lawyer. She has published a plethora of articles, chapters and papers covering Environmental Law, Sustainability, Planned Obsolescence and Waste Management. She holds a Master's in Law, Environment and Political Ecology and is studying for her Ph.D. in Law, Politics, and Society.

I remember as a child watching television and the Curtis Mathes commercial would air. An old couple would say how many years, 17 I think, they had the same television. It was a statement that if you paid extra for a Curtis Mathes it would be worth it in longevity and warranty. Before, when someone bought something they bought for quality knowing that it will last longer. Quality was something that Americans took pride in. There was the thought that something older meant it was built to be durable and better than new models. Although quality and longevity were sought after features for consumers, it is not for manufacturers. Capitalism relies on growth to succeed. After WWII, America had a growing worldwide market as much of Europe was in ruins. America grew until markets became saturated and Europe and Japan recovered. The possibility of expanding the markets and growth stalled. There needed to be a new way to encourage consumption. Planned obsolescence was expanded upon as a new way to grow the market. Suddenly older wasn’t better. Newer meant better technology. A quick look at cell phones today and “new every two” shows how quickly we adapted to new features, better camera, faster data, and more storage. These are not major upgrades like the change from analog to digital. There is no real reason why an old I-Phone3 cell phone would not work today, except for software updates making them incompatible. The phone can last much longer than a few years.

Pope examines and follows human development from primitive hunter-gatherer to modern consumerism and shows the changes that have taken place. At one time, man was part of the ecosystem. Moving from place to place to stay with the food without out depleting one area. Man moved to agriculture which brought cities and consumer goods. The industrial revolution freed man from labor and created even more consumer goods. Eventually, we came to where we are today. We control the environment -- Chemical fertilizers, urbanization, depleting wildlife, and large-scale removal of natural resources. There is not the effort of to conserve or buy less. We are bombarded in every form of media to buy more. It used to be just fashion being “so last year.” Now everything is heading in that direction. We are driven to consume new things even though our old things are still good. There was a time, just recently, when we could fix things. Products could be rebuilt now they are simply replaced. First, it was components that were replaced now complete systems.

Pope also gives some practical examples of how society could change to a sustainable system. Her methods would not be easy. Human greed is a powerful force to fight. Getting rich (or going into debt) and buying new things are the common mentality today. There seems to be a want that can not be quenched. Pope combines history, economics, and consumer psychology to that brings to light many things that people rarely think about. Consuming just seems part of human nature. An excellent and timely book.… (altro)

Once upon a time, humans were part of ecology. They respected nature, worked to maintain it and even worshipped it. At some point, there was a crossover of two lines on the chart: the capacity to buy overtook the capacity to work, and consumerism became the very object of society. Accumulation became an end rather than a means to achieve something (eg. storing enough grain for the winter). Happiness replaced need. New became more important than durable. Perpetual non-satisfaction now fuels the economy. The myth of freedom of choice powers society, when in fact people are driven to consume, regardless of need. We don’t know where anything comes from; we just care that it is available. We live “in a state of pure ontological emptiness”.

Understanding Planned Obsolescence is a highly structured, easily digested overview of this situation, from multiple angles. Pope even makes the argument that planned obsolescence is responsible for the recession and the financial crisis. Unless we all buy more, there will be recession and further austerity. It is up to the consumer to keep buying, keep throwing away, never repairing, never making do and never doing without.

There are three flavors of planned obsolescence: function, quality and desirability. Manufacturers and marketers manipulate consumers to buy goods more often, based on these factors. In economies all over the world, consumers have been trained that this is the best way there is, so live with it, and want more. Despite recycling, the waste continues to pile up in greater amounts per capita every year. Consumption of raw materials has totally outpaced uncontrolled population growth, making a global tragedy inevitable.

My favorite example is Apple convincing users to install its “free” software upgrade from ios3 to 4. This caused Apple 3 iphones to become sluggish or crash or fail to operate, forcing millions to buy a new phone – because Apple would not permit restoration to ios3 (downgrade). This is the most blatant use of planned obsolescence we have seen, and it appears to be both perfectly legal and acceptable to iphone users.

The biggest fault with Understanding Planned Obsolescence began as its strongest point. Early on, Pope identifies economics itself as being directly responsible for this state of affairs. From Adam Smith on, economics developed and ingrained itself with all of its models excluding natural resources. They are always externalities – there for the taking and never needing to be accounted for. This has led everyone to plan that way, encouraging unprecedented waste. Yet in the conclusion, she never mentions it. Instead she recommends more lawsuits, lobbying, pressure and basically incremental more of the same. What she should have said was economics must be made to account for natural resources. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles must stipulate them. Financial regulators must require them. Shareholders must be able to evaluate them. Fines must be issued to transgressors. Only then will we ever get a handle on planned obsolescence. What she recommends is treating the symptoms instead of the cause.

There are a couple of issues with the text. The graphics recapitulate what Pope has just explained, rather than adding new information. This is pedantic and a waste of space. And she uses the tiresome placeholder “In other words…” exhaustively. Between that and “Thus (comma)”, there is at least one of them on pretty much every page. I think she will look back on this important book in 25 years – and be horrified.

Kamila Pope writes with a confident authority. She has done the research, mastered her theme, and can explain it simply and powerfully. This is a badly needed examination. Kamila Pope will prove to be an important new voice on the world stage.

David Wineberg… (altro)