November 21, 2013
Repost: The Parable of the Iron Pan
We’re continually inspired by Patagonia’s push for the ‘New Economy.’ Making products that last a little longer is a good first step. Below is an excerpt from ‘The Parable of the Iron Pan’ by Bob Massie…
“Many years ago, when I was in my 20s, I lived in a small apartment in New Haven, Connecticut. I had a chair, a bed, a lamp and some books, and that was about it. I particularly lacked items for my kitchen, and I needed to eat, so I began searching for cooking utensils.
One brilliant Saturday morning in the fall, I found myself stepping carefully through an estate sale at an elegant old white-shingled New England house. In the back hall I found a 12-inch iron frying pan. It was $2. I bought it and brought it home. Made by the Griswold Manufacturing Company, it was almost 90 years old at that time, and I have cooked with it for another 35. Today it is half as old as the United States.
I often think of that pan when I am asked what kind of economy we should build in a world in which 7 billion people long to prosper on a planet with limited resources. As human beings, we are drawn to the new – new ideas, new technology, new styles. From childhood, we long to create and to grow, and to move freely. The joy of freedom and expansion has been built into everything from our economic theories to our advertising. Yet today we must recognize that exponential growth is both alluring and illusory, an instinct that is out of alignment with the lessons and limits of nature.”
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