Scott Adams of Dilbert fame sets forth some thought-provoking ideas in his latest blog post: "Sign of the End Time." His fundamental premise is that...
"...we're on the cusp of a change as fundamental as the industrial revolution. But this time the change will be on the consumption side, not the production side."
He continues by saying...
"...The coming consumption revolution won't be strictly for the benefit of the environment. It will be an economic necessity, driven largely by the huge numbers of retired poor. There simply won't be enough stuff for everyone if waste is allowed. "
Waste. That word is so important to me. As a advocate of both Lean & Green, waste in any form is inherently evil to me. Doesn't matter if it's the waste embedded in a business process or the wasted energy of an inefficient automobile. It's all evil. Imagine how much better our lives would be if we could snap our fingers and eliminate all the waste around us. Imagine if at work you never had to fix a screw-up or wait around for an answer. Imagine if all our shopping destinations were within walking distance. Not that it's possible to snap your fingers and make it happen, but it's something we should strive for in the long-term, for the sake of the environment and for our own sake.
Later in his post, Adams concludes...
"This is the sort of change that could never happen if the economy was in a happy bubble and it seemed that money was abundant. But as the reality of our economic situation settles in, unthinkable options become thinkable. The good news is that the unthinkable options will have lots of advantages."
This is very often the case with waste elimination. Most people fear change...they truly dread it. But, when external factors force us to change, we come up with smarter, more innovative ways to do things. I think the big winners in a future such as that envisioned by Scott Adams will be those who can eliminate the most waste. If you're a homebuilder, you better be able to design & build sustainable homes in an efficient manner. If you're a lawyer, you better invest in some good video-conferencing equipment so your clients don't have to drive across the city to give a deposition. If you own a restaurant, you better develop relationships with local farmers and ranchers who can provide their products quickly and efficiently. What do you need to do to become a change leader in your industry?
6 comments:
That is such a great way of thinking about why the change will come about. I hope that our government can address some areas of waste and be able to spend more money securing our countries' future. Big-Government Bush is on his way out, so maybe the new administration will be smarter with our money.
We're in a special circumstance where government will actually need to spend more to stimulate the economy as per what Keynesian economics would suggest. But the quantity of the spending doesn't concern me as much as the quality of the spending. $2 trillion in Iraq = poor quality spending. $2 trillion on building a green economy = high quality spending for our future.
Yeah waste is evil and change is slow...kind of makes you wish you were a native american about 500 years ago...assuming you had antibiotics of course.
Waste is perhaps the most unnatural thing in the universe. Biologists may refer to waste, but this waste is just another organism's food. Humans make the true waste; things that are useless, take thousands of years to degrade, and are often dangerous after they are used. This is such an evil thing as Greg said. I'm no theologian but God should have included an llth Commandment "Thou Shall Not Create Waste!"
Greg you would have only enjoyed being a Native American after the Europeans brought fire water, but of course this is also when they brought the pathogens.
Okay, I'm gonna get a little philosophical here (you were warned)...
Nature tends to display elegant designs, with elegant being defined as simplicity on the far side of complexity. This means that things start simple, get complicated, but through continuous improvement (evolution) become elegantly simple again.
Maybe the pre-industrial days were simple. Maybe the Industrial Revolution introduced a ton of complexity. Maybe the post-industrial days will usher in an age of elegant design.
This kind of seems what Scott Adams is hinting at. We'll have to waste less out of necessity, but we'll have better lives because of it. We'll reach the simplicity on the far side of complexity.
"We'll reach the simplicity on the far side of complexity."
An in doing so we'll have found our happy place.
It's like in the movies from the future where they all wear the same outfit. Simplicity.
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