Endless consumption drives captitalism, and catastrophic climate change

A light bulb at a fire station in
Livermore, California, has been
on almost continuously since
1901. In 2015 it was recognized
by Guinness World Records as
the world’s longest-burning bulb.

Capitalism driven by the endgame that is Neoliberalism survives only if people consume endlessly.

Early in the 20^th Century, the leading corporate entities realised that long-lived products spelt doom for the operations and so in what was probably the first cartel with global reach.

It was seemingly inextinguishable light globes that drove the creation of that first cartel when it was realised that new and continuing sales depended entirely upon on that a light globe must regularly fail.

The sophistication of industry and the design of the products it produced meant that the quality of goods improved steadily and the life of goods equally improved.

It seemed that the manufacturing world was doomed, ruined by its own success.

The too good to fail light globe was a symbol of that success and so industry groups arrived at what is now understood as planned obsolescence.

That planned obsolescence may well be good for the world’s manufacturing industries, but it is the antithesis of what is needed if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Read J. B. MacKinnon’s story in The New Yorker - ”The L.E.D. quandary: why there’s no such thing as ‘built to last’.”