Capitalism vs RRRR
Capitalism is a belief of free enterprise to better yourself and the world that you live in. If you look up the definition, you can find several examples of it in different forms. If you break down the word into two parts “Capital” and “ism”. Capital is basically a person or country own wealth that is measured in several ways (physical or financial resource) that helps them to be secure and prosper themselves. ISM refers to a belief or thought that they or it is more important than everyone else’s ISM. When they are put together, that is when things can get good, better or scary and self-destructive.
When Capitalism is protected and guided by a governing body for the better of all and the governing body is not being controlled by Capitalism, we all will benefit from it. But when Capitalism is controlling the governing body and all of its assets, this is where all hell breaks loose. The growth of Capitalism thru the consumption of its products and control of the laws that aid and benefit it will determine the size it becomes. I am not trying to say that Capitalism is bad, but what I am saying is that Capitalism can grow to a state that it cannot survive without the control of the governing body protecting it and/or supporting it. Capitalism also can be very beneficial to all and itself when it works and respect all other forms of Capitalism under the governing body. The planet also benefits from when they work together and use its natural assets responsibly.
Two end products of capitalism are waste and trash. There is a difference between these two. Waste is the leftover from the manufacturing process and can be reprocess and put back into the system and used thus reducing consumption of our natural resources. Waste is the product of several things and when people do not try to reduce it, this is where our natural resource are wasted and one-time used items that are thrown away. Examples are; packaging, food, technology, DIY projects, import goods, and more. Waste is also what is driving more and more landfills to get filled and building new ones. It is also adding to pollution of our water, air and ground.
This is where the four “R” come in. They represent (Reuse, Repair, Rebuild, Recycle). They go against Capitalism because they do not support consumption. This is where it gets bad and goes to hell. Capitalism and (RRR) are in a constant conflict with each other. The sad thing about it, they both need each other to prosper, endure and benefit from each other knowledge and the planet wins to. They can teach/learn from each other like the student/teacher relation, when they learn to respect each other, then their output is more than the sum of the two.
Let’s talk about the “RRRR”. Reuse is first because there is less work/energy done to get it back into the manufacturing system. It takes less time and resources to make it functionable. Examples; glass pop and milk bottles, nuts and bolts, reloading brass, saw blades and so on.
Repair is second because this is where you start to put not just more work/energy in it, but you start putting other new parts/material into it. This is where a lot of things come into play when we manufacture things. The more we standardized the things we make, the easier and cheaper it is to repair them, it also helps keep the repair time down and the item does not end up as trash. Also, we will have fewer different parts on the shelves because we will reuse some of the old designs in new products. By doing this, we will not have to rely on parts coming from overseas to keep things running. Examples; automobiles, computers, battery powered tools, lawn mowers, house appliances and so on.
Rebuild, also remanufactured falls in this category. This is where the item is taken down to its simple parts and put back together with new or repaired parts. The end results should be a brand-new item just like when it was built. All of the wore out parts should be able to be recycled. Examples; automobiles, airplanes, ships, buildings, inter-structure, governments and countries.
Recycle is the last part, it is where something is broke, damaged, wore out or destroyed beyond repairing/fixing. If we have manufactured/built it right, then it can be taken down/apart and put back into the supply chain system for our manufacturing system to reuse. But if it was manufactured/built to a standard, then the core materials can-not be used again (consumed), all the work that went in to make it was a waste and that is what it will be. We will use up more natural resources for nothing. Example; United States of America
In summary, what does a tire and a pencil have in common. Each one only uses around 5% of itself to do a job and the rest is thrown away and not recycled. Now where does this fit into this article, that is your dicion
R. Fleharty