Hey everyone, welcome to SolarPunk Station where we're building regenerative futures. I'm Navar, and today we're going to be questioning whether we should ban advertising. At its most altruistic, advertising helps people find products or services that can improve their lives. In reality, advertising generates dissatisfaction in people so that they will try to fill and imagine void with the things that the advertiser is selling. Researchers have found that the amount of money spent in a country on advertising is inversely proportional to the happiness citizens report in that same country. While dividing by zero is inappropriate, it seems that eliminating advertising is a simple way to increase the happiness of many people. I think the characters in Walkaway by Corey Doctoros said it best. Is there really abundance? Is the whole world went walk away tomorrow? Would there be enough? By definition, she said, because enough is whatever you make it. Maybe you want to have 30 kids. Enough for you is more than enough for me. To pay on how you look at it, they'll never be enough or they'll always be plenty. The first step to banning ads seems to be the billboard ban. A few states in the US have such bans, and Sao Paulo, Brazil drew a lot of press when they instituted their Clean City law in 2006. Despite predictions of economic collapse brought on by the lack of outdoor advertising, citizens overwhelmingly supported the move and the change brought many previously hidden civic issues to light. Given the rollout of smart billboards that bring the pervasive tracking you know and love from the internet to the real world, getting rid of billboards everywhere else can't happen soon enough. Current advertising practices promote carbon intensive lifestyle goods like SUVs that increase global carbon emissions. We should significantly limit if not totally eliminate all advertising if we want to hit the Paris Accord targets. We've built an economy based on growth for growth sake and capitalism treats natural resources as infinite when it's clear they are not. Banny and advertisement is the first step in reducing consumption. Remember, it's reduce, reuse, recycle. The recycle is last for a reason. One group working to curb advertising is fair play, a nonprofit that runs the campaign for a commercial free childhood. While their efforts are focused on a specific demographic, it seems that they have been working in the space the longest. As a new parent, I'm especially interested in their work. Growing our next generation of citizens outside the consumer mindset would be an excellent place to start banning ads. As a small business owner, I'd love to see an end to ads as well. While I've run ads to drive traffic to my Etsy shops, I feel that it isn't something I like spending time or money on. It doesn't feel like it adds any value to what I'm actually doing. Maybe selling on Etsy isn't the best idea since I have poor sales, but I really like making things and don't have enough room to keep all of my projects around. While I need people to find the things I make, I don't like hunting customers around the internet like a predatory car salesman. Finally, if you haven't already done so, I encourage you to install an ad blocker or tracker blocker software. I use U-block origin, privacy badger, canvas blocker, and decentralized on my own Firefox installation, but everyone has their own favorites. The software lets you regain a little bit of privacy as well as blocks a fair amount of the ad traffic directed toward your eyeballs. It's not foolproof, but it can help you regain a small modicum of sanity in this ad saturated world. Do you really love ads and think this is a terrible plan? Have you seen any clever ideas to circumvent ads? Let us know either way but down below in the comments. If you like this video and want to support this channel, you can go ahead and check out the camaraderie link down below in the description. And I'd like to give a special shout out to supporters Cade and Ryan for their support. I will see you all next time.