I just read about Obama and other leaders deciding to punt on a binding agreement on Climate Change in Copenhagen.  What a disappointment!  Human beings LOVE to procrastinate, so we often need others – policy – to force us into community long-term plans.  It’s such a shame that even the Governments are now procrastinating as well as us individuals.  Maybe it’s just the heath-care plan, maybe it’s just the economy.  I hope those two things are resolved in time for us to make an impact and get a global agreement in place.  At a sustainability symposium that I attended at Caltech yesterday, Undersecretary of the DOE and Physicist Steve Koonin artfully presented how dire the situation really is – mainly because of demographic and economic shifts around the world.  India and China are really going to change the planet as they approach our wealth and flamboyant energy use.

I was brushing my teeth yesterday with the amazing $6.95 Crest electric toothbrush. It’s great – it’s simple, and cheap, and I know the story of the clever entrepreneurs who designed it and sold their company for $400m to P&G.

I was thinking about how I get a new one every few months, instead of just paying $99, or much more, for a great reliable 5-year version. The 5-year version would have rechargeable batteries, a nice inductive charger, a nice stand, and extra brushes. The $6.95 one has none of those, and I throw it out for a new one fairly often. Economically, I come out ahead, never having to lay out $99+ up front and I can have one in more than one bathroom, and one in my luggage for travel, etc. But then I realized I’m throwing it out so often, filling up the earth with the junk, and using up precious materials on the planet. But I do it because it’s convenient, and because it’s cheap.

It’s quite selfish, however. It’s cheaper for me, but for the planet? This example plays itself out in millions of our daily items – not just all of our plastic disposables, cups, bags, but also all of our computers, tires, and really everything. Since there is no charge for throwing anything away, most of the incentive to make something last a long time is offset by the super low upfront cost.

I can’t think of any other way to solve this other than to have a “disposal tax” that is added into the purchase price of everything based on it’s life, element usage, and disposal cost. Unless there is a clear price signal that this matters, I think we will continue to descend into a low up-front cost, higher disposal-rate society. I think there are lots of challenges here, but I think this is very important. I’d love to hear thoughts to the contrary, and either why this wouldn’t work, or why this isn’t necessary.