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RSS FeedChapter 5: Moving Toward a LessConsumptive Economy
by Worldwatch Institute on December 11, 2005
Today’s industrial economies are able to churn out large quantities of goods with considerable ease and at such low cost that there is great incentive to regard most merchandise as throwaways—intended to fall apart easily—rather than designing and manufacturing for durability. This mentality, perpetuated by unbridled consumption and the quest for endless economic growth, has brought humanity to the edge of an environmental abyss. Our world is one of resource overuse, widespread air and water pollution, diminished ecosystems, and a delicate climate balance that is being unhinged.
We need a major reduction in the human claim on Earth’s resources. But because humanity’s poorest desperately need to increase their consumption, the rich will need to cut their use of energy and materials—some argue by as much as 90 percent over the next few decades.
A less consumptive economy is possible, but it will take government action, consumer education, and growing numbers of corporate trailblazers to make it happen. Innovative opportunities to curb consumption now exist at the government, business, and consumer levels—many of which are already being put into action. These include: developing environmental standards and other regulatory tools; undertaking ecological tax reforms that make market prices reflect the full ecological costs of products; reducing the raw materials needed to create a product; utilizing “cradle-to-cradle” or “closed-loop” systems where the byproducts of one factory become the feedstock of another; implementing “extended producer responsibility” laws that require companies to take back products at the end of their useful life; and extending and deepening the lives of products by making them more durable, and easier to repair and upgrade.
Michael Renner
Today’s industrial economies are able to churn out large quantities of goods with considerable ease and at such low cost that there is great incentive to regard most merchandise as throwaways—intended to fall apart easily—rather than designing and manufacturing for durability. This mentality, perpetuated by unbridled consumption and the quest for endless economic growth, has brought humanity to the edge of an environmental abyss. Our world is one of resource overuse, widespread air and water pollution, diminished ecosystems, and a delicate climate balance that is being unhinged.
We need a major reduction in the human claim on Earth’s resources. But because humanity’s poorest desperately need to increase their consumption, the rich will need to cut their use of energy and materials—some argue by as much as 90 percent over the next few decades.
A less consumptive economy is possible, but it will take government action, consumer education, and growing numbers of corporate trailblazers to make it happen. Innovative opportunities to curb consumption now exist at the government, business, and consumer levels—many of which are already being put into action. These include: developing environmental standards and other regulatory tools; undertaking ecological tax reforms that make market prices reflect the full ecological costs of products; reducing the raw materials needed to create a product; utilizing “cradle-to-cradle” or “closed-loop” systems where the byproducts of one factory become the feedstock of another; implementing “extended producer responsibility” laws that require companies to take back products at the end of their useful life; and extending and deepening the lives of products by making them more durable, and easier to repair and upgrade.
- Consumption as a Way of Life
- Government’s Toolbox
- Lean and Clean
- Take It Back!
- Rethinking Products and Services
- Public Consumption and Sustainable Credit
- Escaping the Work-and-Spend Trap
- New Dynamics and Values
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