STUFF from Ikea

So that last post (The Story of Stuff) was actually apropos of this article, which my mother cut out and brought over for me. (I guess she's taken over the article-clipping role from my father... but I kind of miss his homemade lamination)

The article points out how un-green Ikea is, despite the veneer of eco-consciousness (a veneer like most of their "wood" furniture is made of).

And I'm thinking, "who doesn't know this?"
Who doesn't know that Ikea makes stuff cheap at everybody else's expense? That they cut corners - heck, these are the people that pioneered making us grateful about building our own furniture! You come away grateful that they even give you an allan key to put the things together with. ("lucky thing I didn't have to rummage through the toolbox... and hey, I might have had to supply my own rivets! Thanks, Ikea!")

And who that has ever owned Ikea furniture doesn't know that it's NOT made for extended use or passing on to the next generation... it's for "display purposes only," as the fake TVs in their store say. The minute it gets dirty or the veneer chips, or the screw-in legs begin to wobble, of course you're going to turn around and buy a new one.

My "cheaper-than-Ikea" suggestions? Buy a used bookshelf at Value Village or a garage sale; greener still, pick one up at the curb!

Ugh. I hate the word GREEN.
Even before it became completely watered-down, I hated the word GREEN.

That and the letter "E". Have you noticed everything has a letter "e" in front of it now? "We have a great new computer thingy that does something like this thingy in real life - what should we call it?" "I know, I know! How 'bout e-Thingy?"

Oh, and then there's "committment". I hate the word "committment" because it's the ultimate weasel word: you can have a committment to a value, and still not live up to that value. Like a company can say they're "committed to quality", and then happen to turn out a product that's junk. "Whoops! Jeez, sorry about that! I guess we'll have to work harder towards our committment!" Ikea may have a committment to the environment. What that means, in terms of dollars invested... well. Hmm.

(That's also why it's ultimately meaningless to have a "committed relationship." You commit, you try, you fail - oops. But that's a whole 'nother blog post, isn't it?)

So here's my green e-committment for the evening: quit blogging and Facebook Farming and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Will I make it? Dunno. But if I fail, well... oops!