When we think about technologies, we often think of laboratories or factories where technologies are born, but if we are to think about technologies in a sustainable way, we should also think about how technologies, and specific artifacts die. The New York Times recently had an article about how disposing of pianos has become a relatively big business. In a capitalist society, we often think about the demand for products growing continually, but some products become less popular over time. In the US peak piano sales occurred in the early 1900s, at 300,000 per year. Now the piano industry sells 41,000 a year. Some of the reasons for the drop in sales are: the large existing base of pianos; fewer people taking piano lessons, and more demands on young people's time. (How many people use a piano at home as an instrument of family entertainment.) And there isn't even sufficient demand for all the used pianos in existence. You can't even give them away. So lots of working pianos are destroyed because there is no demand for them. This outrages some piano lovers, but that is the cold hard economic facts of the matter.
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