I think it's possible to want to have the tools that make life easier, to be more creative, to help live in a way we feel is 'better', and still be sustainable. But that means not buying things you'll turn around and throw away in a day, a week, a year. Buying things that will last decades, a lifetime, more than a lifetime. When you buy things over and over and over, you're multiplying your impact on the planet in the worst way possible, wasting resources by simply becoming an intermediary between production and the dump.

I used to always buy 'the latest and greatest' computer, try to be on the 'leading edge' of tech, for no purpose other than to have the newest toys, even when the difference between what I needed and what I already had was nonexistent. It took me far too long to realize I needed to be more intentional and conscious about my buying patterns.

The hardest part of this is that too many things are not made well enough to last long. I have a coffee percolator from the 1940's. It still works, but how long do the newer coffee makers last? I have been looking for a new dehumidifier, and have found that there is no brand that will last more than a couple of years...the one I have is 20 years old. And these low prices on products that are crap mean that there is no way and no reason to fix them---they are meant to just be replaced. So even if you are willing to pay more for the things that make life easier, you will not get quality that will last. This is the one thing that makes me the angriest, because I would be willing to pay more in the beginning so that I don't spend more replacing crap over and over.

Mindless consumerism is killing the planet, at least in terms of it's ability to sustain human life. Our obsession with convenience and so-called "comfort" has blinded us to the extent that we are suffocating ourselves in excess.
The answers are in history and the answers are also all around us, if we care to look. We take so much for granted that we have lost touch with our own senses.