Do they really want to be Green??

In 1879 Thomas Edison came up with a marvelous invented, the light bulb. Somewhere along the journey of this revolutionary invention someone figured out that if the world is going to benefit from this marvelous product, the basic way it functioned would have to be universal. It's design would have to work world over. It would have to fit all household in the same simple way. So the world made way for one simple household socket to fit the "common bulb," still in use today.

The camera required the same simple solution in the tripod and that too came to past. The plug in our houses, appliances and other electrical gadgets we share our lives with follows the same principle, it fits world over. Batteries come in a few basic sizes that's available wherever life takes us around the world, they too were designed with the same idea in mind.

Not so long ago, before we were bombarded with endless amount of digital cameras in the marketplace, the same could be said for the few choices we had whenever a decision was made to create memories by using a roll of film.

I don't know if these products were self regulated or if government and or some other body had their hands in that decision, but regardless of how it came about, it made good sense and everyone was on board.

Here we are in 2013, so many years after the invention of the light bulb, encouraging everyone to go green, to cut back on our dependence on plastic bags and whatever creates green house gases.
Encouraging the auto industry to build greener cars. That's all good, we should all do what's best for the environment, I'm all for that and I do try my hardest to be green.

But what about the companies that design and sell millions of cell phones, tablets, digital cameras and other gadgets that needs upgrading every six months. Do they have any responsibilities for the way they choose to design their products?

1. Why can't they use the same size chip in these digital cameras?

2. Why can't they use the same size batteries?

3. Why shouldn't I be able to use my perfectly good old charger in my new phone?

Why can't they make the cell phones with a universal plug-in slot. You know, like the sockets in our houses that fits all household light bulbs, the plugs in our house that fits all appliances and gadgets, the tripod that fits all cameras.

This would keep millions of these chargers, head pieces, batteries, chips and other selfishly designed products out of land fills, and I can't see how this action would have any impact on the design or function of these products.

4. Why can't they be responsible and think about the negative impact their actions are having on the environment?

Someone with such authority should step up to the plate and initiate changes to the way these products are designed. It is crazy to allow these companies to continue operating as they presently do. A simple change of these product would mean a bit less profit, but it would just be a very green thing to do.

They did it with the light bulb then, they can do it with these gadgets today.

They just need to care enough

Anthony