AP
DCL
"In order to achieve sustainable society, it is necessary to transform industrial structure to the one that does not reduce the Earth's resources," they say at Enviroscope. "Under this circumstance, a business model of `not selling goods, but selling services' has been expected as a measure of co-existence of business and the environment. This idea is called Product-Service Systems or PSS."
"A PSS," says Collin Dunn at TreeHugger.com, "replaces a product with a service; instead of paying for the product itself (and whatever maintenance and upkeep it requires), you pay to use the product for a bit, and then give it back. Think of it this way: a PSS is often an answer to the question, `Hey, do you really need to own one of those?'"
Also at TreeHugger, Lloyd Alter tells us about Neko JaLaLa, or the Cat Caf?. "You don't get to rent the cat," he writes, "but you get to join them for tea while catz loll around. After all, cats are like tribbles; rubbing them makes you feel good. It is only in the morning that you pay with your skin. One customer says 'When it comes to having cats, it's a burden. I work and I don't have the time to take care of them in a responsible manner,' but thinks cat-gazing is 'a way to relax and let go of my stress.'"
I feel tempted to add a PS to this post, but I'll resist.
