[LINK] How many Newspapers does it take to build Ayers Rock?

Jan Whitaker jwhit at melbpc.org.au
Wed May 13 09:33:02 AEST 2009


At 08:56 AM 13/05/2009, Ivan Trundle you wrote:
>The suggestion that digital delivery of any data is at no or little
>cost to the environment, whilst discounting the infrastructure
>required to support the distribution and resultant action, is entirely
>fabricated.

True. Most models don't go far or wide enough to include all the 
inputs to discover where the big impacts are. Similar to the effects 
of high paper demands on old-growth forests, Amazon basins, carbon 
release, oil for transport of the raw materials, etc. It's like the 
story about whiting being caught at Lakes Entrance being shipped to 
Thailand for processing, then shipped BACK to Australia for 
consumption from the freezer. What's wrong with this picture? Why do 
the economics work out so that the wholesaler who somehow has a say 
in those decisions [buys the fish in LE and ships to a different 
hemisphere for handling] finds it cheaper for him to do so? Doesn't 
make a lot of sense if the TRUE costs were included, not just cheap 
wages in Thailand.

Back to newspapers. Something is definitely shifting if one of the 
Melbourne papers is doing door to door signup for full week for the 
cost of the weekend only rate and still get the weekend edition as 
well home delivered. Says that their subs rate is so low they aren't 
able to sell advertisers the number of readers needed to break even 
on the cost of production and distribution, or some combination of all that.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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