It took about 80 years of advertising to get here. In the 1930s people were still only one generation removed from farming (at the TOC 47% of Americans lived on farms). Durability, sustainability and the natural cycles of life on which our own depends were much more familiar to that generation. Americans of the 1930 were extremely thrifty and it took years of advertising science to break that down.

3 generations later, we are told that any efforts to reduce the amount of wasteful production of non-durable goods will "hurt the economy". Out of the triad of "Reduce - Reuse - Recycle", reduce gets the most pushback. The greenwashing of corporate ads limit "reduce" to things like bringing your own bag to the store or anything else that will save them money, but making a more durable refrigerator (one of the most carbon intensive products we buy) is off the table. Reduce is the most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions but it is seen as a threat to the way economies are run and fortunes are sustained -- producing goods or chemicals cheaply in one country then transporting them to a country where they can be sold for the highest amount. An arbitrage of labor and waste. It is a shell game where only the PTB see all the moving parts and everyone else gets screwed by wages, pollution and planned obsolesence.

The challenge of climate change is a challenge of vision. A challenge to turn away from the course of hospice (stay comfortable and accept death) for the human species and find a new vibrant vision for the future.

(able to be flipped upside down) today. In Eastern WA, double-sided spring mattresses are only available in one outlet (Northwest Bedding that makes their own mattresses locally) The 2 styles they sell are made for hotels and while they will sell them to the public, they are quite expensive ($1,300!).

I last bought a spring mattress set for under $700 in 2002, and they were all double sided and guaranteed for at least 15 years back then. When did the market change to all junk one-sided spring mattresses (Sealy, Serta, Beauty Rest, etc) with that material that gets nubby and worn the first week you sleep on it?

"The challenge of climate change is a challenge of vision. A challenge to turn away from the course of hospice (stay comfortable and accept death) for the human species and find a new vibrant vision for the future."

The OP hit home, but this did so even more.

Well said. A certain contigent of our elected leaders is willing to have us roll over and die for the sake of their pocketbooks.

Advertising has been around forever, but the science behind it seems to have come into play with the rise of mass media.

If you are forward thinking, whether by inclination, profession or accident, you will see this.