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It'd be nice if our culture wasn't so ridiculously wasteful, but we are and it's unlikely that we'll develop into a culture that values making and KEEPING quality items for generations. For instance, all of us here has a computer, and it's probably not the first NOR the last you'll have even if it works and does everything you need it to do. May be the same with many items in your life. Some of us here work at manufacturing or in some manner associated with bringing products to the consuming public. If we lived in some half baked idea of an ideal less wasteful society, it would likely necessitate some cutting back.
In a way, the current economic crisis might be the perfect time to contract society and get rid of the wasteful mannerisms we have come to believe is our birth-duty.