1 00:00:28,409 --> 00:00:34,588 He is Marcos from Barcelona, but it could be anyone, anywhere else. 2 00:00:35,799 --> 00:00:41,275 He will run across something that happens every day in offices and homes around the world. 3 00:01:00,913 --> 00:01:06,151 A piece of the printer has failed and the manufacturer recommends taking it to technical service. 4 00:01:08,168 --> 00:01:10,713 My technician makes a preliminary diagnosis, 5 00:01:10,713 --> 00:01:13,104 but it costs 15 euros plus VAT. 6 00:01:13,104 --> 00:01:16,404 Surely will be difficult find the pieces to be able to repair it. 7 00:01:16,404 --> 00:01:19,778 Repairing it isn't really worth it. 8 00:01:19,778 --> 00:01:22,245 Repairing it will cost about 110 or 120 EUR. 9 00:01:22,245 --> 00:01:24,698 There are printers from 39 EUR. 10 00:01:24,698 --> 00:01:28,249 I would advise you to look for new printers. 11 00:01:28,249 --> 00:01:31,184 I would buy a new one, without doubt. 12 00:01:31,184 --> 00:01:35,965 It isn't coincidence that the three vendors suggest to buy a new printer. 13 00:01:36,842 --> 00:01:42,457 If he accepts, Marcos will be another victim of planned obsolescence, 14 00:01:42,457 --> 00:01:45,818 the secret engine of our consumerist society. 15 00:01:56,178 --> 00:02:00,322 Our society is dominated by a growth economy 16 00:02:00,322 --> 00:02:04,169 whose logic is not to grow to meet the needs, 17 00:02:04,169 --> 00:02:06,116 but rather grow to grow. 18 00:02:27,065 --> 00:02:31,334 In this documentary we will disclose how planned obsolescence 19 00:02:31,334 --> 00:02:34,188 has defined our lives since the 1920s. 20 00:02:34,188 --> 00:02:40,307 When manufacturers began to shorten the lifetime of the products to boost sales. 21 00:02:40,768 --> 00:02:45,343 So they reduced the lifetime of products to 1000 hours. 22 00:02:47,266 --> 00:02:53,478 We will discover that designers and engineers were forced to choose new values and goals. 23 00:03:07,355 --> 00:03:10,426 We will learn about a new generation of consumers 24 00:03:10,426 --> 00:03:13,058 that are going against the manufacturers. 25 00:03:15,212 --> 00:03:19,068 Is an economy without planned obsolescence feasible? 26 00:03:19,068 --> 00:03:21,341 and without its impact on the environment? 27 00:03:38,995 --> 00:03:41,341 Buy, throw away, buy. The secret history of planned obsolescence. 28 00:04:14,982 --> 00:04:20,120 The Livermore light bulb has been operating without interruption since 1901. 29 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:25,223 At the moment two webcams have expired and the light bulb is going for the third. 30 00:04:33,184 --> 00:04:36,550 In 2001, when the bulb turned one hundred years old 31 00:04:36,550 --> 00:04:41,005 Livermore organized a big American-style birthday. 32 00:05:48,903 --> 00:05:54,418 The formula for a long lasting filament is not the only mystery in the history of light bulbs. 33 00:05:55,049 --> 00:06:00,038 One much greater secret is how and why this humble product became 34 00:06:00,038 --> 00:06:03,229 the first victim of planned obsolescence. 35 00:06:05,434 --> 00:06:08,411 Christmas of 1924 day was a special day. 36 00:06:08,642 --> 00:06:13,738 In Geneva several gentlemen in suits gathered together in a special room 37 00:06:13,738 --> 00:06:15,466 with a secret plan. 38 00:06:15,466 --> 00:06:20,341 They created the first worldwide cartel 39 00:06:20,341 --> 00:06:24,863 to control the production of light bulbs 40 00:06:24,863 --> 00:06:28,501 and distribute the world market shares among themselves. 41 00:06:29,963 --> 00:06:32,539 The cartel was called Phoebus. 42 00:06:33,647 --> 00:06:38,947 Phoebus included major light bulb manufacturers in Europe and the United States 43 00:06:38,947 --> 00:06:43,547 and even those from distant colonies in Asia and Africa. 44 00:06:44,208 --> 00:06:49,065 The objective was to exchange patents, to control the production 45 00:06:49,065 --> 00:06:52,197 and, above all, control the consumer. 46 00:06:52,197 --> 00:06:59,004 They wanted people to buy light bulbs on a regular basis. 47 00:06:59,004 --> 00:07:02,994 If light bulbs lasted too much, it would be an economic disadvantage. 48 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,611 Initially the goal of manufacturers was a long lifetime for their light bulbs. 49 00:07:25,353 --> 00:07:32,821 In 1881 Edison put up for sale its first light bulb, it lasted up to 1500 hours. 50 00:07:34,402 --> 00:07:38,199 In 1924, when the Phoebus cartel was founded, 51 00:07:38,199 --> 00:07:41,774 2500 hours of useful lifetime were announced with pride 52 00:07:41,774 --> 00:07:46,187 and manufacturers highlighted the longevity of their light bulbs. 53 00:07:46,187 --> 00:07:51,865 So the Phoebus cartel thought of limiting the lifetime of the light bulbs 54 00:07:51,865 --> 00:07:54,159 to 1000 hours. 55 00:07:58,743 --> 00:08:03,837 A committee was created in 1925, the "1000 hour life Committee" 56 00:08:03,837 --> 00:08:11,375 to technically reduce the light bulbs lifetime. 57 00:08:14,567 --> 00:08:18,699 More than 80 years after, Helmut Hรถge, a historian from Berlin, 58 00:08:18,699 --> 00:08:21,180 finds evidence of the Committee activities 59 00:08:21,180 --> 00:08:24,854 hidden among internal documents of members of the cartel. 60 00:08:24,854 --> 00:08:27,262 Companies like Phillips in the Netherlands 61 00:08:27,262 --> 00:08:31,225 Osram in Germany and Lamparas Zeta in Spain. 62 00:08:31,886 --> 00:08:35,897 Here is a document from the cartel. 63 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,873 Pressured by the cartel, manufacturers performed experiments 64 00:08:53,873 --> 00:08:56,311 to create a more fragile light bulb 65 00:08:56,311 --> 00:08:58,735 that complied with the new 1000 hours standard. 66 00:09:09,859 --> 00:09:12,977 Manufacturing was strictly controlled 67 00:09:12,977 --> 00:09:15,720 to make sure that regulations were met. 68 00:09:17,597 --> 00:09:20,290 One of the measurements was to mount different shelves 69 00:09:20,290 --> 00:09:24,405 with many lampholders, 70 00:09:24,405 --> 00:09:30,951 where they mounted different combinations with samples of each series. 71 00:09:30,951 --> 00:09:34,558 Companies like Osram recorded meticulously 72 00:09:34,558 --> 00:09:37,222 the duration of these bulbs. 73 00:09:39,545 --> 00:09:43,840 Phoebus, created a complicated bureaucracy to impose their rules. 74 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:49,331 Manufacturers were severely fined if they diverted from the established goals. 75 00:09:55,223 --> 00:09:59,285 Here is a table of fines of 1929 76 00:09:59,285 --> 00:10:03,693 showing how much Swiss francs 77 00:10:03,693 --> 00:10:07,178 the members of the cartel had to pay 78 00:10:07,178 --> 00:10:11,601 if their bulbs lasted, 79 00:10:11,601 --> 00:10:13,824 for example, more than 1500 hours. 80 00:10:20,292 --> 00:10:23,399 As planned obsolescence took effect, 81 00:10:23,399 --> 00:10:25,666 lifetime started to fall. 82 00:10:25,666 --> 00:10:30,909 In just 2 years shrank from 2500 to less than 1500 hours. 83 00:10:34,648 --> 00:10:38,692 In the 1940s the cartel had already achieved its goal. 84 00:10:38,692 --> 00:10:42,302 A standard light bulb lasted for 1000 hours. 85 00:11:16,849 --> 00:11:21,198 In the following decades, dozens of new light bulbs were patented. 86 00:11:21,198 --> 00:11:23,839 Even one that lasted 100.000 hours. 87 00:11:25,070 --> 00:11:28,133 But none was commercialized. 88 00:11:29,349 --> 00:11:31,934 Officially, Phoebus never existed, 89 00:11:31,934 --> 00:11:34,720 even though their trail was never completely hidden. 90 00:11:35,182 --> 00:11:40,110 Their strategy was to change the name from time to time. 91 00:11:40,110 --> 00:11:43,671 They were called "International Cartel of Electricity" 92 00:11:43,671 --> 00:11:46,341 and later on they change it again. 93 00:11:46,341 --> 00:11:51,056 The important thing is that this idea still exists as an institution. 94 00:11:56,644 --> 00:12:02,699 In Barcelona, Marcos has ignored the vendors advice to replace the printer. 95 00:12:02,699 --> 00:12:04,723 He is determined to fix it. 96 00:12:04,723 --> 00:12:10,179 And he has found someone on the internet who has discovered what happened to his printer. 97 00:12:26,844 --> 00:12:29,237 Marcos has contacted the author of the video. 98 00:13:12,963 --> 00:13:16,561 Planned obsolescence started at the same time 99 00:13:16,561 --> 00:13:19,270 as mass production and the consumerist society. 100 00:13:42,885 --> 00:13:47,602 Already in 1928 an influential advertisement magazine warned: 101 00:13:48,278 --> 00:13:52,350 ".. an article which refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business." 102 00:13:54,535 --> 00:13:57,962 In fact, with mass production, prices fell down 103 00:13:57,962 --> 00:13:59,639 and products became more affordable. 104 00:13:59,639 --> 00:14:03,024 People started buying for fun rather than by need. 105 00:14:03,402 --> 00:14:05,025 The economy accelerated. 106 00:14:26,563 --> 00:14:28,073 In 1929, 107 00:14:28,073 --> 00:14:31,916 the Wall Street Crash abruptly stopped the incipient consumerist society 108 00:14:31,916 --> 00:14:36,468 and led the United States to a deep economic recession. 109 00:14:45,332 --> 00:14:50,522 The people formed lines no longer to buy, but instead to ask for work and food. 110 00:14:54,061 --> 00:14:58,329 From New York came a radical proposal to revive the economy. 111 00:15:01,283 --> 00:15:03,985 Bernald London, a prominent real estate investor, 112 00:15:04,278 --> 00:15:08,897 suggested getting out of the depression through mandatory planned obsolescence. 113 00:15:09,897 --> 00:15:13,151 It was the first time that the concept appeared in writings. 114 00:15:14,336 --> 00:15:17,952 London proposed that all products had a limited lifetime 115 00:15:17,952 --> 00:15:22,883 with an expiration date, after which these would be considered legally dead. 116 00:15:23,538 --> 00:15:27,149 The consumers would return it to a Government Agency 117 00:15:27,149 --> 00:15:28,703 for its destruction. 118 00:15:44,052 --> 00:15:48,228 Bernald London believed that with mandatory planned obsolescence 119 00:15:48,228 --> 00:15:52,120 factories would keep producing, the people would keep consuming 120 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,555 and there would be work for everybody. 121 00:16:00,385 --> 00:16:04,910 Giles Slade is already in New York to know more about the person that is behind this idea. 122 00:16:05,264 --> 00:16:07,684 He wonders if with planned obsolescence, 123 00:16:07,684 --> 00:16:13,247 Bernald London aimed to maximize benefits or, to help the unemployed. 124 00:16:16,770 --> 00:16:22,511 Dorothea Weitzner met Bernald London in the 1930s during a family outing. 125 00:17:23,692 --> 00:17:27,478 In fact the idea of Bernald London passed unnoticed 126 00:17:27,478 --> 00:17:31,002 and mandatory planned obsolescence was never put into practice. 127 00:17:36,448 --> 00:17:41,876 Twenty years later, in the 1950s, planned obsolescence resurfaced, 128 00:17:41,876 --> 00:17:47,492 but with a crucial twist, it wasn't to force the consumer but to seduce him. 129 00:18:02,138 --> 00:18:06,536 This is Brooks Stevens' voice, the apostle of planned obsolescence 130 00:18:06,536 --> 00:18:08,367 in the post-war america. 131 00:18:09,044 --> 00:18:12,730 This elegant industrial designer, created from electrical appliances 132 00:18:12,730 --> 00:18:17,344 to cars and trains, always taking in mind planned obsolescence. 133 00:18:20,852 --> 00:18:25,826 In tune with the time, the designs of Brooks Stevens expressed speed and modernity. 134 00:18:25,826 --> 00:18:28,450 Even his house was unusual. 135 00:19:31,768 --> 00:19:35,332 Brooks Stevens traveled throughout the United States 136 00:19:35,332 --> 00:19:38,720 promoting the planned obsolescence in talks and speeches. 137 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,508 His ideas settled and were widespread. 138 00:20:02,759 --> 00:20:05,719 Design and marketing seduced the consumer 139 00:20:05,719 --> 00:20:07,909 to always want the latest model. 140 00:20:37,595 --> 00:20:44,174 Freedom and happiness through unlimited consumption, the American way of life of the 1950s 141 00:20:44,174 --> 00:20:46,743 settled the foundations of the current consumerist society. 142 00:21:29,999 --> 00:21:35,243 Nowadays, planned obsolescence is taught in design and engineering schools. 143 00:21:36,271 --> 00:21:39,015 Boris Knuf gives lectures about product life cycle. 144 00:21:39,445 --> 00:21:42,680 The modern euphemism of planned obsolescence. 145 00:21:54,761 --> 00:22:00,190 Students are taught to design for a business world dominated by a single goal: 146 00:22:00,190 --> 00:22:02,686 frequent and repeated purchases. 147 00:22:37,449 --> 00:22:42,596 Planned obsolescence is in the root of the considerable economic growth 148 00:22:42,596 --> 00:22:46,286 that the Western World has lived since the 1950s. 149 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,696 Since then, growth has been the Holy Grail of our economy. 150 00:22:56,189 --> 00:22:58,858 We live in a society of growth 151 00:22:58,858 --> 00:23:02,727 whose logic is not to grow to satisfy the needs 152 00:23:02,727 --> 00:23:04,689 but grow to grow. 153 00:23:04,689 --> 00:23:08,696 Infinitely grow, with a production without limits 154 00:23:08,696 --> 00:23:13,858 and to justify it, consumption should grow without limits. 155 00:23:15,583 --> 00:23:19,931 Serge Latouche, a well-known critic of the Society of Growth, 156 00:23:19,931 --> 00:23:22,557 writes often about its mechanisms. 157 00:23:24,111 --> 00:23:27,201 There are three key instruments: 158 00:23:27,201 --> 00:23:31,793 advertising, planned obsolescence and the credit. 159 00:23:50,238 --> 00:23:55,141 The critics of the Society of Growth alerts that it is unsustainable in the long term, 160 00:23:55,757 --> 00:23:58,492 because it is based on a flagrant contradiction. 161 00:23:59,585 --> 00:24:02,685 Anyone who believes that unlimited growth 162 00:24:02,685 --> 00:24:05,200 is compatible with a limited planet 163 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:06,562 is either crazy 164 00:24:06,562 --> 00:24:08,062 or is an economist. 165 00:24:08,062 --> 00:24:11,946 The problem is that we are all economists. 166 00:24:31,418 --> 00:24:34,918 We could say that with the Society of Growth 167 00:24:34,918 --> 00:24:37,618 we are inside a race car 168 00:24:37,618 --> 00:24:40,995 that, right now, clearly nobody is driving, 169 00:24:42,180 --> 00:24:43,957 going full speed 170 00:24:43,957 --> 00:24:45,564 and whose fate 171 00:24:45,564 --> 00:24:49,526 is either hitting a wall 172 00:24:49,526 --> 00:24:51,207 or falling into a precipice. 173 00:25:08,022 --> 00:25:10,917 Consulting instruction manuals, 174 00:25:10,917 --> 00:25:13,627 Marcos realizes that engineers 175 00:25:13,627 --> 00:25:17,869 determine the lifetime of many printers, during the design phase. 176 00:25:25,945 --> 00:25:30,670 They achieve it by putting a chip inside the printer. 177 00:25:42,292 --> 00:25:44,192 I found the chip. 178 00:25:44,192 --> 00:25:47,077 It is an EEPROM chip where 179 00:25:47,077 --> 00:25:48,392 a count of prints is stored. 180 00:25:49,354 --> 00:25:51,546 When it reaches a determined number, 181 00:25:51,546 --> 00:25:53,708 the printer hangs and stops printing. 182 00:26:02,934 --> 00:26:06,888 What do engineers think when they have to design a product that fails? 183 00:26:06,888 --> 00:26:12,037 The dilemma is reflected in a classic British film of 1951 184 00:26:12,037 --> 00:26:15,772 where a young chemist invents a everlasting thread. 185 00:26:16,388 --> 00:26:19,258 The chemist believes that he made a great progress. 186 00:26:27,608 --> 00:26:29,916 But not everyone likes the invention, 187 00:26:30,947 --> 00:26:34,769 and soon he finds himself chased not only by the owners of the factory 188 00:26:34,769 --> 00:26:37,970 but also by the workers who fear for their jobs. 189 00:26:47,318 --> 00:26:53,201 In 1940 the giant chemist Dupont presented a revolutionary synthetic fiber: 190 00:26:53,201 --> 00:26:54,368 the nylon. 191 00:26:58,984 --> 00:27:03,618 For women the durable socks were a major step forward 192 00:27:03,618 --> 00:27:05,352 but the joy lasted a little. 193 00:27:38,582 --> 00:27:42,911 Dupont's chemists had reasons to be proud 194 00:27:42,911 --> 00:27:46,617 even the men admired the resistance of nylon stockings. 195 00:28:02,564 --> 00:28:05,876 Dupont gave new instructions to Nicole Fox's father of and his colleagues. 196 00:28:25,900 --> 00:28:30,362 The same chemists that applied all their knowledge to create a durable nylon 197 00:28:30,362 --> 00:28:34,354 embraced the new trend and made it more fragile. 198 00:28:34,354 --> 00:28:38,053 That everlasting thread disappeared from factories, 199 00:28:38,053 --> 00:28:39,720 like in the film. 200 00:28:50,695 --> 00:28:55,818 What was the opinion of Dupont's chemists about deliberately reducing the lifetime of a product? 201 00:29:56,834 --> 00:30:00,692 Planned obsolescence affected not only engineers. 202 00:30:00,692 --> 00:30:05,230 The frustration of consumers echoed in the classic play of Arthur Millers: 203 00:30:05,230 --> 00:30:07,103 Death of a salesman. 204 00:30:07,118 --> 00:30:10,767 Like Willy Loman, the consumers could only complain. 205 00:30:31,685 --> 00:30:36,184 Consumers didn't know that in the other side of the Iron Curtain, 206 00:30:36,184 --> 00:30:37,757 in the countries of the Eastern block 207 00:30:37,757 --> 00:30:41,805 there was an entire economy without planned obsolescence. 208 00:30:48,466 --> 00:30:54,359 The Communist economy was not based on the free market, but it was planned by the State. 209 00:30:54,359 --> 00:30:59,091 It was inefficient and suffered from a chronic lack of resources. 210 00:30:59,091 --> 00:31:04,192 In that system, planned obsolescence did not have any sense. 211 00:31:08,253 --> 00:31:13,056 In the old East Germany, the most efficient communist economy, 212 00:31:13,056 --> 00:31:20,031 the norms stipulated that fridges and washing machines should last for 25 years. 213 00:31:23,047 --> 00:31:28,114 I bought this fridge in East Germany in 1985, 214 00:31:28,114 --> 00:31:31,538 it is at least 24 years old. 215 00:31:32,722 --> 00:31:36,557 I never had to change the light bulb 216 00:31:36,557 --> 00:31:38,888 which is also nearly 25 years old. 217 00:31:42,103 --> 00:31:49,354 In 1981 an East Berlin's factory began to produce a long lasting light bulb. 218 00:31:49,354 --> 00:31:54,213 They presented it in an international fair, in search of western buyers. 219 00:31:55,244 --> 00:31:58,242 When the East Germany manufacturers 220 00:31:58,242 --> 00:32:01,164 presented these long lasting light bulbs 221 00:32:01,164 --> 00:32:03,145 at Hanover fair in 1981, 222 00:32:03,837 --> 00:32:07,379 their colleagues in the West said: "You will be without jobs." 223 00:32:07,379 --> 00:32:10,309 The engineers of East Germany said: 224 00:32:10,309 --> 00:32:12,907 "No, the opposite, 225 00:32:12,907 --> 00:32:16,315 we will keep our jobs 226 00:32:16,315 --> 00:32:19,907 if we save resources and do not waste tungsten." 227 00:32:23,138 --> 00:32:26,466 The people of the West rejected the light bulb. 228 00:32:27,374 --> 00:32:30,522 In 1989 Berlin Wall fell, 229 00:32:31,291 --> 00:32:36,711 the factory closed and the production of the long lasting light bulb stopped. 230 00:32:38,249 --> 00:32:42,404 Nowadays, it can only be seen in exhibitions and museums. 231 00:32:52,173 --> 00:32:57,206 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, unrestrained consumerism 232 00:32:57,206 --> 00:33:00,202 exists both in the East and in the West. 233 00:33:06,726 --> 00:33:10,066 With a difference, in the internet age, 234 00:33:10,066 --> 00:33:14,454 the consumers are willing to fight against planned obsolescence. 235 00:34:41,493 --> 00:34:46,400 Elizabeth Pritzker, a San Francisco lawyer, heard about the video 236 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,952 and decided to sue Apple on the matter of the iPod battery. 237 00:34:50,353 --> 00:34:54,485 Half a century after the case of the cartel, planned obsolescence 238 00:34:54,485 --> 00:34:56,807 came back to courts again. 239 00:35:10,032 --> 00:35:13,300 A lot of these iPods had problems with their batteries 240 00:35:13,300 --> 00:35:16,846 and their owners were willing to go to court. 241 00:35:17,738 --> 00:35:20,957 One of them was Andrew Westley. 242 00:36:16,918 --> 00:36:20,966 In December 2003 Elizabeth Pritzker presented the lawsuit 243 00:36:20,966 --> 00:36:23,335 to San Mateo County's Court. 244 00:36:23,335 --> 00:36:26,344 A stone's throw away from Apple's headquarters. 245 00:37:06,748 --> 00:37:11,135 After months of tension, the two parts reached an agreement. 246 00:37:11,135 --> 00:37:16,407 Apple created a replacement service and extended the warranty to 2 years. 247 00:37:16,407 --> 00:37:19,958 The prosecutors received a compensation. 248 00:37:54,086 --> 00:37:58,690 Planned obsolescence causes a constant flow of waste 249 00:37:58,690 --> 00:38:02,521 that end in Third World countries, like Ghana in Africa. 250 00:38:22,722 --> 00:38:26,159 An international treatment prohibits shipping electronic waste 251 00:38:26,159 --> 00:38:27,878 to the Third World countries. 252 00:38:27,878 --> 00:38:30,873 But buyers use a simple trick: 253 00:38:30,873 --> 00:38:34,007 they declare them as second-hand products. 254 00:38:39,974 --> 00:38:43,411 More than 80% of the electronic waste that arrives in Ghana 255 00:38:43,411 --> 00:38:47,911 can not be repaired and end up abandoned in landfills around the country. 256 00:39:25,488 --> 00:39:29,851 Nowadays, here there are no children playing after school. 257 00:39:29,851 --> 00:39:34,681 Instead, young people from poor families, come to look for scrap. 258 00:39:36,213 --> 00:39:40,951 They burn the plastic cable cover to obtain the metal inside. 259 00:39:47,345 --> 00:39:52,072 The smallest kids scavenge in the wreckage to find 260 00:39:52,072 --> 00:39:55,719 any piece of metal that the adults might have forgotten. 261 00:41:28,806 --> 00:41:34,183 People from all over the world has begun to act against planned obsolescence. 262 00:41:35,814 --> 00:41:39,628 Mike Anane is fighting at the end of the chain, 263 00:41:39,628 --> 00:41:42,478 he has begun collecting information. 264 00:42:20,210 --> 00:42:24,070 Mike thinks about turning this information into evidence 265 00:42:24,070 --> 00:42:26,119 for a lawsuit at court. 266 00:42:49,798 --> 00:42:55,463 Marcos is in internet again, looking into how to lengthen the lifetime of his printer. 267 00:42:57,711 --> 00:43:02,105 A russian website seems to offer a free software 268 00:43:02,105 --> 00:43:04,724 for printers with a counter chip. 269 00:43:06,038 --> 00:43:10,882 The developer has bothered to explain his personal motivation. 270 00:43:28,599 --> 00:43:34,335 Marcos does not know what can happen, but decides to download the software anyway. 271 00:43:36,726 --> 00:43:41,280 From a small village in France, John Thackara fights against planned obsolescence 272 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:45,804 helping people around the world to share business and design ideas. 273 00:44:28,623 --> 00:44:34,195 One of them is Warlden Phillips, descendant of the dynasty of light bulbs manufacturers. 274 00:44:53,826 --> 00:44:56,811 Nearly a century after the light bulb cartel, 275 00:44:56,811 --> 00:45:02,152 Warner Philips continues the family tradition, but with a different perspective, 276 00:45:02,152 --> 00:45:05,588 produces a led light bulb that lasts 25 years. 277 00:45:35,938 --> 00:45:39,911 If the carriers paid the real cost of transport, 278 00:45:39,911 --> 00:45:44,182 not to mention that the oil is a non-renewable resource 279 00:45:44,182 --> 00:45:47,083 and for which there is no substitute, 280 00:45:47,083 --> 00:45:50,833 I would say that the costs would be multiplied by 20 or 30. 281 00:46:06,007 --> 00:46:09,538 Also we can fight against planned obsolescence 282 00:46:09,538 --> 00:46:13,448 rethinking the engineering and the production of the products. 283 00:46:13,878 --> 00:46:17,711 A new concept: "Cradle to cradle". 284 00:46:17,711 --> 00:46:21,077 Asserts that if the factories worked as the nature 285 00:46:21,077 --> 00:46:24,082 obsolescence itself would be obsolete. 286 00:46:25,133 --> 00:46:28,989 When we talk about protecting the environment, 287 00:46:28,989 --> 00:46:32,637 we always think about: cut, resign, reduce. 288 00:46:33,313 --> 00:46:36,960 But in spring, a cherry tree 289 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:39,462 neither cut nor resigns. 290 00:46:43,818 --> 00:46:46,827 The natural cycle produces in abundance, 291 00:46:46,827 --> 00:46:51,797 but the fallen flowers and dry leaves are not waste, 292 00:46:51,797 --> 00:46:54,327 but nutrients for other organisms. 293 00:46:56,324 --> 00:47:00,364 Nature don't produce waste, only nutrients. 294 00:47:03,012 --> 00:47:08,128 Braungart believes that industry can imitate the virtuous cycle of nature. 295 00:47:08,482 --> 00:47:14,552 And he proved it by re-designing the production process of a Swiss textile manufacturer. 296 00:47:17,333 --> 00:47:21,425 When you upholster a sofa with a textile like this 297 00:47:21,425 --> 00:47:25,070 the clippings are so toxic 298 00:47:25,070 --> 00:47:29,204 that should be removed alongside the toxic waste. 299 00:47:31,876 --> 00:47:38,561 Braungart discovered that the factory used by inertia hundreds of 300 00:47:38,561 --> 00:47:39,838 highly toxic dyes and chemical products. 301 00:47:40,893 --> 00:47:45,969 To produce the new textiles, Braungart and his team reduced the list 302 00:47:45,969 --> 00:47:48,049 to only 36 substances. 303 00:47:48,049 --> 00:47:49,661 All of them biodegradable. 304 00:47:51,170 --> 00:47:55,001 We select ingredients that you could eat. 305 00:47:55,001 --> 00:47:58,112 If you'd like, you could add them to your muesli. 306 00:47:59,282 --> 00:48:01,126 In a society of wastefulness, 307 00:48:01,126 --> 00:48:03,325 a short-life product creates a problem of waste. 308 00:48:03,325 --> 00:48:06,612 If a society produces nutrients, 309 00:48:06,612 --> 00:48:10,047 short-life products could turn into something new. 310 00:48:11,404 --> 00:48:14,831 For the more radical critics of planned obsolescence, 311 00:48:14,831 --> 00:48:17,965 it is not enough to reform processes, 312 00:48:17,965 --> 00:48:21,612 they want to rethink our economy and our values. 313 00:48:22,426 --> 00:48:26,092 It is a true revolution, a cultural revolution, 314 00:48:26,092 --> 00:48:29,555 because it is a change of paradigm and mentality. 315 00:48:30,318 --> 00:48:33,894 This revolution is called: Degrowth. 316 00:48:33,894 --> 00:48:37,066 Serge Latouche travels from talk to talk explaining 317 00:48:37,066 --> 00:48:41,094 how to abandon the Society of Growth once and for all. 318 00:48:42,340 --> 00:48:45,969 The Degrowth is a provocative slogan 319 00:48:45,969 --> 00:48:51,635 that tries to break up with the euphoric speech 320 00:48:51,635 --> 00:48:55,885 about viable, infinite and sustainable growth. 321 00:48:55,885 --> 00:49:00,832 It attempts to demonstrate the need for a change of logic. 322 00:49:03,278 --> 00:49:05,590 The essence of Degrowth 323 00:49:05,590 --> 00:49:08,934 can be summarized in one word: reduce. 324 00:49:08,934 --> 00:49:12,714 Reducing our ecological footprint, 325 00:49:12,714 --> 00:49:15,737 the over-production and the over-consumption. 326 00:49:16,759 --> 00:49:20,195 To reduce the consumption and production, 327 00:49:20,195 --> 00:49:22,151 we can release time 328 00:49:22,151 --> 00:49:25,536 to develop other types of wealth 329 00:49:25,536 --> 00:49:30,250 that have the advantage of not exhausting themselves with use, 330 00:49:30,250 --> 00:49:32,478 like friendship or knowledge. 331 00:49:58,021 --> 00:50:03,199 If happiness depends on the level of consumption, 332 00:50:03,199 --> 00:50:06,681 we should be absolutely happy, 333 00:50:06,681 --> 00:50:11,650 because we consume 26 times more than in Marx's time. 334 00:50:11,650 --> 00:50:13,485 But polls show 335 00:50:13,485 --> 00:50:16,110 that people are not 20 times happier, 336 00:50:16,110 --> 00:50:18,733 because happiness is always subjective. 337 00:50:23,353 --> 00:50:27,835 The Degrowth's critics fear that it will destroy the economy 338 00:50:27,835 --> 00:50:30,760 and take us back to the Stone Age. 339 00:50:33,161 --> 00:50:36,009 Returning to a sustainable society, 340 00:50:36,009 --> 00:50:40,398 whose ecological footprint is not bigger than a planet, 341 00:50:40,398 --> 00:50:43,856 does not mean going back to the Stone Age, but back to the 1960s, 342 00:50:43,856 --> 00:50:47,108 considering the parameters of a country as France, 343 00:50:47,108 --> 00:50:49,731 which, is not the Stone Age. 344 00:50:52,608 --> 00:50:57,603 The society of Degrowth makes Gandhi's vision a reality: 345 00:50:57,603 --> 00:51:00,644 "The World is big enough 346 00:51:00,644 --> 00:51:02,851 for everyone's needs 347 00:51:02,851 --> 00:51:05,150 but it is too small 348 00:51:05,150 --> 00:51:06,891 for the greed of one man." 349 00:51:33,293 --> 00:51:38,023 Marcos is installing the Russian freeware on his computer. 350 00:51:42,032 --> 00:51:47,409 With the new program he can put the printer chip counter to zero. 351 00:51:50,661 --> 00:51:53,842 The printer is unlocked immediately. 352 00:52:07,217 --> 00:52:09,215 The end?