It’s hard for me to explain in words how disturbing I find this. Here’s a manifestation of how we as a culture see “stuff” and how we relate to the material world.
You’re absolutely correct in everything you’re saying.
However, we’ve been giving out that exact advice since at least the 1980s and thus far it’s gotten us nowhere significant. There are too many subsidies for plastics manufacturers/petrochemical companies, too many industry lobbies for various forms of manufacturing, and too many lobbyists for it to make a difference.
I absolutely think that folks should buy used, grow their own, reduce/reuse/recycle, and repair. However we’re swimming against a cultural and political tide that turned long ago and while we can take our names off the problem I’m not sure that we can reverse it.
You may be right, but I think by staring it in the face as much as possible we can generate that physical feeling that is what the tide is made of. Politics can turn as they have before. I’m not so sure we are in a “coasting” part of history. Feels pretty choppy and changeable right now. Makes powers that be grip harder, but I’m hoping that’s just a symptom of general readiness.