the parable of the totaled saab lessons on sustainability

Flickr photo by mattdesmond

headlamps: $1000 body realignment (labour): $2000 new bumper: $300 new hood: $500

nada value: $5000 + almost seized engine + 6 months = nada value: $2650

two senses of 'totaled'

sus·tain (sə-stān') tr.v. sus·tained, sus·tain·ing, sus·tains To keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for. To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop. To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage. To bear up under; withstand: can't sustain the blistering heat. To experience or suffer: sustained a fatal injury. To affirm the validity of: The judge has sustained the prosecutor's objection. To prove or corroborate; confirm. To keep up (a joke or assumed role, for example) competently. [Middle English sustenen, from Old French sustenir, from Latin sustinēre : sub-, from below; see sub- + tenēre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots.] sus·tain'a·bil'i·ty n., sus·tain'a·ble adj., sus·tain'er n., sus·tain'ment n. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

sus·tain·a·ble (sə-stā'nə-bəl) adj. 1. Capable of being sustained. 2. Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment: sustainable agriculture . The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. sustainability noun the property of being sustainable WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

sustainability is cultural

sustainability depends on continuous maintenance

sustainability depends on continuous production

sustainability is infrastructural

it wasn't the economics

spare parts

sustainability depends on scale

it wasn't rarity

independence

sustainability is a knowledge practice

sustainability depends on collaboration

sustainability is creative

is cultural depends on continuous maintenance depends on continuous production is infrastructural depends on scale is a knowledge practice depends on collaboration is creative