I still remember my family’s National rice cooker. That thing worked for years, steaming rice for my growing family since the 70s. It refused to break down, it just looked old. Long story short, peer pressure made my parents gave it away and replaced it with some fancy new model. Our crock-pot (which we still have) is probably 15 years old. Mom’s Kenwood mixer from the 80s still works. Yep, things from the good old days are made to last.

Now, we have cell phones that die on us after a year. You have to buy a whole new gadget because (get this) the batteries cannot be replaced. People buy a whole new gadget just because a teeny tiny part does not work anymore. We are programmed to think that consumption is good – for the community, the economy and your country.

Here’s a simple scenario. Someone buys a gadget (not necessarily cheap) that is made with depletable raw materials in a faraway country by a cheap and bullied labor force. This gadget breaks down after one year of usage and cannot be repaired anymore. It ends up in the dumpster. It is really simple economics. In a short time, money, labor, time, and resources have turned into yet another crap item in our landfills. An unsustainable system…