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When it comes to any type of technology planned obsolescence is likely to be involved in the manufacturing process. From vacuum cleaners to light bulbs and cellular phones, planned obsolescence is everywhere. What is planned obsolescence? How does it impact the environment and everyone in it? How do manufacturers implement planned obsolescence and how has it secretly made it way into our culture? You’re about to find out.

Planned obsolescence is defined by the Oxford Language Dictionary as a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and so require replacing, achieved by frequent changes in design, termination of the supply of spare parts, and the use of nondurable materials. In layman’s terms, planned obsolescence means to build something to fail, rather than to build something to last long. Remember your last iPhone that fell off the bed onto a pillow and shattered into a million pieces? Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about.

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. Initially, companies sought to make light bulbs last as long as possible, but, you guessed it, the business model changed overtime. Planned obsolescence didn’t take shape until the 1920’s when all of the biggest light bulb manufacturers met at a Geneva conference to change the world. Coined as the “Phoebus Cartel”, companies like General Electric (US), Osram (Germany), and Phillips (Netherlands) joined forces to create a type of monopoly on the light bulb market. The companies came to an agreement and decided to knowingly shorten the span of light bulbs, therefore changing the business model permanently.

Planned obsolescence impacts the environment in an abundance of ways. For example, the psychological aspect of noticing a device fail, instills a want for the newest, latest, greatest, product. This begins the start of a chain reaction that ends up in tons of electronic waste being produced (Apple has produced 20 different iPhones as of Spring 2021). It was estimated that 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste was produced in 2019. It is also estimated that 85% of all electronic waste is burned in landfills which directly contributes to climate change. Burning waste attributes to 5% of all carbon emissions which may seem miniscule, but is still a vast amount of carbon dioxide that impacts the environment.

Planned Obsolescence has survived through the decades, but has spread to different industries that impact our lives the most. Technology, for instance, has seen planned obsolescence take over. Specifically, Apple has been brutally criticized because their products lack sufficient durability for average customers. However, critics rave about Apple’s quality and design, but these features do not translate to a device being functional over long periods of time. Back in 2016, Apple was involved in a scandal regarding the slowdown of their iPhone 6 and 7 products. Apple openly admitted that the slowdown had taken place to preserve the life of their devices. Apple also went on to deny that the slowdown was for financial gain. With that being said, one must ask if financial gain is a side effect of the knowingly induced slowdown on devices. Apple has also had their cultural image blemished by private repair shops. Apple creates a monopoly by requiring specific tools to repair devices that no one but Apple has access to. There are different types of planned obsolescence like Contrived Durability, Prevention of Repairs, and Perceived Obsolescence to name a few. These two cases demonstrate Contrived Durability and Prevention of Repairs because Apple’s products require specific tools to fix and their products are built with durability as their last priority.

Although Apple isn’t the only company utilizing planned obsolescence (they make a great example), they have had an entire culture developed around their products. The durability of their products has become comical for most people. In short, planned obsolescence is something that has become inherent to most industries that value monetary success over customer satisfaction.

Great Resources to learn more about Planned obsolescence :

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzWU7D0S9_8&t=1s

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z1XYM7bC4k

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Currently, there are vaccines going out in New York City and some people are eligible to receive them. Sadly, there are some difficulties going on with this. People have complained that either the lines to receive them are very long and taking too long, or the locations have changed, and that some people were just giving to whoever was first. De Blasio has stated that problems going on are “not acceptable” The way vaccines are distributed must be in a certain and organized manner, not “first come, first serve”. More to come on how vaccines are coming. Update: De Blasio has been talking about the vaccines and now has a new vaccination site in the Bronx. Currently, over 3 million New Yorkers have been vaccinated and the goal is to reach 5 million vaccinations by June. Majority of the seniors have been vaccinated and now that these vaccines are coming along, De Blasio also speaks of a plan coming soon to get students back in high school. Middle schools have returned and now he wants to get high schools back in session and hopes to have all students vaccinated and back to school as normal by the start of september.

NYC Covid-19 Cases estimate: 777,000

Deaths: 30,258 t

Please continue to follow guidelines to keep others safe.

Asian Assault Incident

Currently in NYC, many asians are being targeted. From people being stabbed to people just being pushed, Asians are currently getting a ton of hate. Mayor Bill de Blasio has been working with Asian community leaders to figure out a way to prevent the hate crimes that are currently going on. The reason for the attacks are related to “coronavirus motivation”. The city is currently fighting to make sure the assaults come to an end.

The Suez Canal. What happened that made this incident so widestream? Where is the Suez Canal and why does it have such a big impact on global trade? What does the future of global trade look like? Stick around because we will be discussing the future of Global Trade.

And so we begin in the early 1800’s, when the French (ruled by Napoleon), arrived in Egypt and surveyed the land between the Red Sea (also known as an isthmus) and the Medditerrean Sea. J.M. Le Père was Napoleon’s chief lines-of-communication engineer, and he inevitably incorrectly calculated that the Red Sea was 33 feet higher than the Medditerean. With that being said, one must remember that it is the early 1800’s and the French were in a new drastically new climate. After that failed attempt, the French somewhat redeemed themselves and construction of the Canal began in 1859. The French predicted the 120 mile stretch would take 6 years to construct, but in reality several factors took the project off course. For instance, there was a cholera outbreak in the 1860’s that impacted construction, and there were labour issues associated with the digging of the canal. As typical of European countries, the Suez Canal’s inception, inevitably involved forced labour (also known as slave labour ). Digging was initially done by hand, but later transitioned to dredgers and steam shovels. The canal was officially finished in August of 1869, and opened later that year in November.

At the time, the Suez Canal was revolutionary because it dramatically shortened the route between Asia and Europe. Before this, ships would have to travel to the Cape of Good Hope of the African continent before proceeding to Europe. Those details alone made the Suez Canal a very significant way of passage regarding economic trade. In fact, the Suez Canal accounts for 12% of all global trade. On a different note, container ships are tremendously big. The ship that got stuck, “The Ever Given”, owned by the Tawainese Evergreen Marine Corporation, clocks in at about 400 metres or about a ¼ of a mile. How did the ship get stuck ? Well, given the regional and geographical context, Egypt does have sandstorms. During a sandstorm on March 23rd, the Ever Given was hit hard with heavy winds. It only makes sense that a ship of that scale would suffer from strong winds, because containers are stacked very high, so the energy from the wind needs to transfer. If humanity could learn one thing from this incident, it's this: container ships aren’t that viable in comparison to developing technologies.

Hear me out; there are benefits associated with each form of transport used for goods. For instance, ships can move extremely large quantities of goods, but they are limited to water. Another example are planes because they can move small quantities of goods at much faster speeds. A great middleground between these two are Airships. However, airships have developed a bad reputation over the years mainly because of the Hindenburg Disaster. In short, the Hindenburg Disaster left 36 people dead after a failed landing attempt in New Jersey (May 6th, 1937). Airships have had a significant comeback after this incident. There are several benefits to airships like reduced emissions and versatile use.

Although the concept of airships still has work ahead of it, I still believe that it will revolutionize global economies by making trade more efficient. Anyways, what do I know about global economies? I'm a high school student, not a professional economist afterall.

Great Resources to learn more about Airships & and the Suez Canal

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PbgYReEUO8

• https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/02/06/what-happened-to-blimps-and-why-airships-may-make-a-comeback.html

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1ovtfl3tRc

• https://www.hybridairvehicles.com