I stumbled across this post with an awesome slide show. It is such an interesting concept that there are seemingly innocuous items that the pursuit of environmental concern is going to obliterate. Many of them are iconic. I didn’t know what to expect but I was not expecting the yellow pages to be the first on the list. After the initial impact, I recalled the last interaction I had with The Yellow Pages. I picked it off the front doorstep and said “why do they bother giving us one of these” to my wife. “I mean who actually looks inside one of these anymore?” I continued chuntering for the next ten minutes or so…
In many respects the world has changed dramatically in my brief lifetime. It is only ten years since I was at university and signed up for my first mobile phone. Now I have a mobile communication device that can also be used as a phone. In fact, it being a phone is largely irrelevant. However, what it does do is connect to Yell.com. There’s an app for that.
I try to live in as much of a paperless office as I can. Everything is done electronically. I try to be as environmentally conscious as possible. However, you don’t realise the endangered species that this is creating. I didn’t realise that I was pushing the yellow pages to the brink of extinction.
As we move closer to the realm of the Starship Enterprise we are moving into a different world of environmentalism. There are huge advances being made in all fields of technology. The coal-fired power stations of my youth have disappeared and we’re exploring tidal power, wind power, solar power…. The emissions of vehicles are tightly controlled. The kindle is taking over from the printed word. With this there will no doubt come a new set of environmental challenges.
I wonder what else the future holds. I wonder what other cultural icons will go the way of the dodo.
Yellow pages, may you rest in peace.
Each year all of the churches in town walk through to the town square and have a short act of remembrance on Good Friday. Last year I had no idea what they were expecting. I put on a Death Row shirt and slung a giant wooden crucifix over my shoulders and carried it at the front of the procession. This year they asked me to do some form of bible reading in the Town Square when we get there. It is a public performance really. I suppose I’ll put on the convict outfit and hold a life-size cross whilst I do it this year. I have rewritten John 19 (abridged) based upon The Message. Please bear in mind that many of the phrases are easy to say in a broadish Yorkshire accent as I use the tools I’ve got. Also, the bold parts will be practiced with a baying mob so that they don’t all shout them in unison.