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Buy stuff that lasts; it only makes sense! My parents have been married for over 50 years, and the Sunbeam toaster they received as a wedding gift still works! Now that is a well made product. Built to last. Quality. Inspires the marriage. Unfortunately, most products today are “built to trash”. In a recent cover story from “In These Times”,  Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin asks whether ‘heirloom design’ could be the cure for our mass consumer consumption and waste.

According to the full article, “The manufacture, distribution and disposal of an ever-growing mountain of short-lived consumer goods has taken an enormous environmental toll. Annie Leonard’s website “The Story of Stuff,” which has garnered more than 7 million views in less than two years, has helped spread awareness of that cost far beyond the usual environmentalist circles.”

According to Lizabeth Cohen, chair of the History Department at Harvard University, “In the 1940s and ’50s, there was a much closer connection between consumer demand and factories and jobs.” Perhaps what came after was mixed with a bit of greed and ignorance, but it was smart business at the time. Or so it seemed. It was American Ingenuity that got us into this mess.

It was during the period immediately before and after World War II, when a demand-driven economy was seen as the key to our nation’s recovery and prosperity. We began to develop this economy where we must continue to consume in order to ensure our economic prosperity. Short-sighted? Ignorant of the renewability of natural resources and the effects of pollution? Without a doubt.

We have set ourselves up where locally, regionally, and nationally, we are dependant upon a consumer economy. That means that we must continue to consume in order to maintain our way of life. This is contradictory to the cycles of nature. We cannot sustain this system. It is time to look for quality more than quantity. It is time to look for service, rather than product. It is time to look outside the box and use that amazing and inspiring American Ingenuity to re-invent our economy into a more sustainable model. This will ensure the success of us all. Societies have risen and fallen throughout history. We have opportunity; we must remain observant and continue to evolve in order to survive.

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