A weblog with random thoughts and reflections on society and ecology.
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Monday, September 27, 2004
Commercialisation of Childhood
Born to Buy
I attened a talk with Juliet Schor this weekend, on commercialisation of childhood. The information was similar to what I have received in drips here and there, but it is scary to receive a fuller picture. Some of what is going on...
- Children, in particular the tweens (between child and teen), are seen as drivers of family consumption, and the new target group for marketing
- Ad agencies use a variety of techniques to market to kids, including peer-to-peer marketing, dual messaging (ads for kids, and ads for parents to say it is OK), creating "wholesome halos" for a product, etc.
- Food is an important product group (consumed by everyone and on a daily basis), and children increasingly determine what foods the family eats.
- Several of the largest food companies are owned by or in ownership groups that includes large tobacco companies. The strategies used to market tobacco is now used to market food.
- Corporations make strong inroads in schools, including through "news" programming (Channel One - exposing school kids to 10 hours of commercials a year) and ready-made and "free" curricula designed for indoctrination.
Juliet Schor also found that levels of media exposure for children causes increased consumer involvement, which in turn leads to increased levels of anxiety, depression, head- and stomackaches, and deteriorating relationships with parents.
Level of media exposure >>> consumer involvement/mindset >>> anxiety, depression, head/stomackaches, deteriorating relationships with parents. Consumer Culture & Human Needs
It is disturbing to see how generations of human beings are absorbed into a materialistic culture. One where the strategies they learn are (a) incapable of meeting most of their needs and (b) often prevent them to meet their needs in deeply fulfilling ways (spend too much time on comsumer related activities such as work, buying, maintenance, etc. to have time for family, friends, community and deeply nourishing activities).
Everything is cyclical and impermanent, so it will not last. But the question is if this culture will collapse for ecological and social reasons (unravelling of ecosystems, social instability due to increasing gap between the few rich and the many poor) or human reasons (internal self-correcting processes w/in human beings). It will most likely be a combination.
This type of large scale culture change will happen for some because they want to, and most because they have to.
18:45
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Permaculture
Permaculture is a whole-systems approach to design, and can be applied to any area of human activity: architecture, built communities, community organizing, mechanical devices, food production, etc.
To do effective permaculture design, we need to...
- Have a good understanding of the basic principles of permaculture
- Have a good knowledge of the field they are to be applied to. This includes the available techniques, when they are appropriate and not, etc.
Misconceptions
For some reason, there are two common misconceptions about permaculture floating around:
- It is primarily (or exclusively) about food production
(wrong - it can be applied to design in any area) - It prescribes specific techniques
(wrong - it gives a set of guidelines to help us think about the design, and a way to select and organize the different techniques and approaches available in the particular field we are working in. No one technique can be appropriate in all situations, the world is far too variable and complex).
01:25
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Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Open Source
Although the Open Source approach was exciting from the beginning, it is even more so these days when it is coming to maturity. Open Source products are mature, competetive with anything on the market, and moving into the mainstream.
It is an example of how large number of people, guided by simple rules, can work together for mutual benefit and produce something that exceeds in quality what a corporation can come up with. And isn't that what humans have done throughout history?
Some of the ones I have found particularly useful lately:
Information
- Wikipedia
An online encyclopedia developed and progressively refined by thousands around the world. New articles are continusly added, and the existing continiously refined and developed.
Software
- Mozilla Firefox
An elegant and easy to use browser with functionality and security beyond IE (including an extension that blocks ads very effectively)
- Mozilla Thunderbird
An elegant and easy to use email application - again with with functionality and security beyond Microsoft products - Open Office
An office suite equivalent to (and files interchangeable with) Microsoft Office
Operating System
- Linux
I have not made the transition to Linux yet as I am dependent on specialized 2D and 3D design software not yet available for Linux. But - for any regular computer use (internet, email, office applications, image processing etc), Linux would be my first choice (stable, secure, always improved).
11:16
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