Overconsumption (economics)

"[3][4] Overconsumption is driven by several factors of the current global economy, including forces like consumerism, planned obsolescence, economic materialism, and other unsustainable business models, and can be contrasted with sustainable consumption.

A long-term pattern of overconsumption in any region or ecological system can cause a reduction in natural resources, often resulting in environmental degradation.

[15] In the last 30–40 years, China has seen significant increases in its pollution, land degradation, and non-renewable resource depletion, which aligns with its considerable economic growth.

The Worldwatch Institute said China and India, with their booming economies, along with the United States, are the three planetary forces that are shaping the global biosphere.

The report states that The world's ecological capacity is simply insufficient to satisfy the ambitions of China, India, Japan, Europe, and the United States as well as the aspirations of the rest of the world in a sustainable way.In 2019, a warning on the climate crisis signed by 11,000 scientists from over 150 nations said economic growth is the driving force behind the "excessive extraction of materials and overexploitation of ecosystems" and that this "must be quickly curtailed to maintain long-term sustainability of the biosphere.

This results in an "outsourcing" of pollution and resource depletion, with developed countries benefiting from consumption while production-related ecological damage accumulates elsewhere.

Advertising, planned obsolescence, and fast economic cycles create a continuous push for higher consumption, making it challenging to curb unsustainable resource use.

Without structural changes in global monetary policies, consumer behavior, and production models, overconsumption will likely continue accelerating alongside economic expansion.

These range from food and beverage, clothing and footwear, housing, energy, technology, transportation, education, health and personal care, financial services, and other utilities.

Some argue that this economic revolution's outcome was most significantly influenced by foreign consumer economies,[27] while others focus on China's internal market developments.

According to the World Bank, the highest shares of consumption, regardless of income lie in food, beverage, clothing, and footwear.

[32] According to a 2020 paper written by a team of scientists titled "Scientists' warning on affluence", the entrenchment of "capitalist, growth-driven economic systems" since World War II gave rise to increasing affluence along with "enormous increases in inequality, financial instability, resource consumption and environmental pressures on vital earth support systems."

Any sustainable social and environmental pathways must include transcending paradigms fixated on economic growth and also reducing, not simply "greening", the overconsumption of the super-affluent, the authors contend, and propose adopting either reformist policies which can be implemented within a capitalist framework such as wealth redistribution through taxation (in particular eco-taxes), green investments, basic income guarantees and reduced work hours to accomplish this, or looking to more radical approaches associated with degrowth, eco-socialism and eco-anarchism, which would "entail a shift beyond capitalism and/or current centralised states.

"[33][34] In other words, the concentration of wealth allows the affluent to shape policies that maintain consumption-driven economies, limiting systemic change.

[35] A 2020 Oxfam-SEI report found that the top 10% of earners contribute over half of global carbon emissions, while the wealthiest 1% emit more than double the poorest 50% combined.

[36] While green technologies offer solutions, the Jevons Paradox suggests efficiency gains often lead to increased overall consumption rather than reductions.

[37] Thus, tackling affluence-driven overconsumption requires progressive taxation on high-carbon activities, curbing luxury emissions, and shifting economic priorities from GDP growth to sustainability.

Excessive unsustainable consumption will exceed the long-term carrying capacity of its environment (ecological overshoot) and subsequent resource depletion, environmental degradation and reduced ecosystem health.

According to one of the authors Julia Steinberger: “To protect ourselves from the worsening climate crisis, we must reduce inequality and challenge the notion that riches, and those who possess them, are inherently good.” The research was published on the site of the World Economic Forum.

In the long term, these effects can lead to increased conflict over dwindling resources[45] and in the worst case a Malthusian catastrophe.

"[48] According to BBC, a World Bank study has found that "Americans produce 16.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita every year.

The experts write: "Until now, undernutrition and obesity have been seen as polar opposites of either too few or too many calories," "In reality, they are both driven by the same unhealthy, inequitable food systems, underpinned by the same political economy that is single-focused on economic growth, and ignores the negative health and equity outcomes.

[51] Obesity was a medical problem for people who overconsumed food and worked too little already in ancient Rome, and its impact slowly grew through history.

[55] While industrialized food systems have fueled rising obesity rates, the relentless burning of fossil fuels—especially coal—has exacerbated air pollution, climate change, and public health risks on a global scale.

[57] These emissions contribute to environmental issues such as acid rain, smog, and climate change, while also posing significant health risks.

[59] In China, the extensive use of coal has led to severe air pollution, resulting in significant public health challenges.

Action upon repaying climate debt are proposed to be through reduction of emissions from the more developed, consumerist countries that are the biggest carbon emitters, which includes efforts to understand and heavily limit the extent to which they should reasonably emit greenhouse gasses in relation to their geographical and political boundaries.

Additionally, action is proposed to be taken by supporting the affected underdeveloped countries by financial, industrial, and environmentally cleansing means.

[72] Biomass of mammals on Earth[73][74] The most obvious solution to the issue of overconsumption is to simply slow the rate at which materials are becoming depleted.