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We seem to be on two differnt topics. I’ll leave it at that. Thank you for your time and passion. Gotta change the the Tarzan get up, the suns going down. Brrrr and you know what this “summer” has been like….
Mar, Check this out by Hans Rosling on TED. I think it bridges the gap between your subject and mine (cultural choice and consumption).
Let me know what you think. Its really well done.
When this happens CR will be just like PR and the US “Virgin” Islands. Not pretty.
Limon/Puerto Viejo are all ready suburbs of Kingston.i love TED talks. and this was a good one. i don’t see how it bridges a gap however because in order to consume less there has to be less people to consume, so limiting families is my argument for doing that, except, as he mentioned, it will always be the poor who have the largest families and they are never going to have a washing machine. for me, the answer to the problem is that laundry should become a man’s job so women can go out and do something useful and productive in the world instead of just being baby factories and slaves. jejeje
Ahhh the female Diego has landed!
If you look at how much each consumes, the rich one with the airplane travels uses 8 times the energy as the one with out the washing machine. So who is using up more resources. One airplane traveler uses the resources of 8 washerless people.
The more affulent the more resources used. There has to be a way to devolve and use less. I don’t mean being dirt poor and I don’t mean filthy rich. There has to be a way to have a washer and use less.
I think that has to do with values. Adopting western values is 8 times consumption. So who is depleting resources the campasino who may not be rich but has a washer or the rich guy buying things and throwing things away at will?
i don’t disagree with you on the consumerism, which i find deplorable. i have a washing machine, but i don’t have a dryer, a television, or even a car, and other than my laptop, i have a dearth of other little electronic gadgets. i hardly generate any trash — whereas i have neighbors who, for two people, generate two or more 50-gallon trash bags of “stuff” every week. i have one little plastic bag filled with other plastic bags, and i recycle all bottles, organic matter, and burn all my paper. some people view me as deprived, although i can easily afford all those things i don’t have. i am just trying to lessen my carbon footpriint. but they’ve made it chic to consume, and chic to toss it all away, and worse yet, planned obsolescence is built in to any product on the market today — it is designed to break and it is designed not to be repaired. so it’s a vicious cycle because capitalism cannot thrive without this planned obsolescence. it takes a complete shift of consciousness to see how wasteful we are and it requires sacrifice on the part of the individual to stop mindless consuming. if the washing machine gave women time to pursue other intellectual interests, then it surely was a good thing!
How many neighbor types are there for every Maravilla? A 1000 to one? More?
I applaud your and admire your effort and do my best not to consume and repair things. I buy a new car every 10 years, consolidate trips, eat red meat raely (less than once a month0 and cut back on meat in general etc.
So now how many Ticos that move toward consumerism through cultural values will be like Maravilla? Who is hardly the average American, and how many will want to be like the average Americans that hoard and have bought so many things that they actually have become addicted to things and seek help for clutter problems (like it’s an addiction). My point here is that the cultural values dictate consumption. Look how fat these people have become. That is consumption attitude.
Fatness and not doing what is required to maintain a healthy weight is a sign of an overblown sense of self-importance. Oh, I can be fat because I am so important that everybody will like me/need me no matter what I look like. Fat people tend to hibernate and consume.
These are all cultural values that are changing drastically here. That’s why I say the country is becoming full of Ticans. Per capita it may be the fattest place I have ever been too. Go to tagged.com and do a profile search. You will see about 90% of the photos are of overweight women.
The larger problems (all puns intended) is the culture we have exported and or karma for being such abusers/over – consumers is going to come back and haunt us. It already is in Costa Rica.
I was hoping this nation would be moderate through traditional values but it is becoming a progressive paradise with gender blur and huge new stadiums through antiquated leadership values and basically selfishness.
This is not the Costa Rica I knew even 10 years ago let alone longer. They are Ticans now, and many of then are fat Ticans at that. What’s have the Arias and Chanchilla values done? Look around you. The progressive have screwed this place up fasters by promoting ties with the US and a break in agricultural ties, You say all cultures move away from agriculture. Yes maybe that is true but it does not have to be that way. Its not a natural progression. But since it seems normal now you see it as natural.
What is and what is natural are two different things.
Ticos are moving away from natural and to normal (US values). I left to get away from what is normal to find what is natural and “normal” is following me. Pura Eata
a report on the local news said that 60% of Ticos are obese. That rivals the same stat for the US. obesity is a disease of consumption, you’re right about that. i cringe every time i see a tico walking along the road with their 2 liter bottle of soda dangling from their hand. wow, it’s so cool to imitate americans eating all their bad fast food and following their consumptive path. look at me, now i have diabetes, high blood pressure, and i’m fat, too!! Just like all of them! i, too, moved here to get away from that mentality and yet here it is. i wanted a simpler life, one free of clutter and unnecessary objects, and for the most part i have attained that. have you seen the latest Zeitgeist film, Moving Forward? it’s on peliplay.com right now, and it is an eye opener, but it also gives some great suggestions on how to break this consumer-obsessed cycle. the world is awash in objects that have been discarded, landfills that are filled to capacity, and garbage sargasso seas that size of States drifting in our oceans. Who could want that? i don’t think what i’m doing is anything special, but it is a concerted effort that i put out to keep my life simple. and now that i can ride the local buses for free, i may never ever get a car. i’m in better shape for all the walking i do, and healthier i am sure for all the fresh fruits and veggies i eat, but then i’ve always not eaten packaged food; it’s just cheaper to eat better here and not create landfill waste!
Better and cheaper. That is the key. Now you understand why I am writing about this. Culturally Costa Rica through their antiquated leaders and Tico passivity is making a bad turn. What a shame… Now we got Ticans… What next?
I love campesino culture with washing machines. In balance and hoped that would become a model instaed of new stadiums and more cars and fast foods. Too bad
yeah, if i were queen for a day, there would be no fast food joints! not a single KFC or McDonald’s to blight the landscape. the great thing about a Tica washing machine — you knopw, the ones with the separate spinner on the side — is that it doubles as a salad spinner thus alleviating the necessity for owning one of those useless things. jejeje
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