When I was a kid, we had a Toastmaster toaster. It was, as the ad says, “Lovely to look at, delightful to use, sure to endure.” I think my mom still has it and still works. But being “a combination of classic beauty, perfect product performance and remarkable time-defying endurance” (yes, the ad says that too) is no longer what drives product design; now it is to be sold in Walmart for five bucks, in itself a remarkable story of manufacturing and retailing efficiency. The five dollar toaster and the 50 year toaster are both laudable goals, but when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions and getting off oi… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Minus Oil: The 50 Year Toaster vs the Five Dollar Toaster
