#2 Overconsumption Overview

Source

Laying the base for what’s to come: overconsumption…

What is it?

Overconsumption can broadly be defined as the state in which natural resources are extracted and consumed at a faster rate than they are replenished. Interestingly, the use of the word ‘overconsumption’ itself has greatly accelerated since 1950.

Source: Google Trends Note: the y-axis represents the percentage of use of the word 'overconsumption' in books and publications

This is symptomatic of a new trend; increasingly, individuals and institutions alike are considering the role of demand-driven environmental degradation (E.g. Matthews et al., 2000; SERI et al., 2009; OECD 2015). In this view, it is the size of our wants that is unsustainable.

How can we measure it?

The problem with using gross domestic product (GDP) to measure consumption is that it looks only at the monetary value of an economic activity and fails to measure the depletion of natural capital, on which all economic activity essentially depends.

What is needed then is a descriptor that takes into account all material flows in an economy, regardless of their economic importance. This is achieved by applying a Material Flow Analysis (MFA). 

Source: Matthews et al. (2000: 5) Note: Don't worry too much about the definitions of TMR, DMI etc, rather focus on the fact that the transformation of goods (the flow) is linear

These flow studies are concerned with the interface between the economy and the natural environment. The system displayed here is a once-through­ system. Materials enter the economy by domestic extraction or as imports, are transformed via economic processes to gain use value, and subsequently re-cross the boundary into the environment once they have served their use. This flow of resources keeps the wheels of all industrial economies spinning.

Why is it a problem?

A once-through system can only be sustained if there continually exist new inputs for processing. Seeing that the resource base is finite, the system cannot be infinite. 

Where does ‘the environment’ come in?

Essentially – everywhere. Consider the following - very simplified - system.

It is clear that in this system (and our own more complex system), environmental degradation and economic activity are very much intertwined. Every good that we consume has an environmental history, long before we use and dispose of it; both in terms of the energy required for transformations between stages, and the wastes and emissions implicated in each transformation stage. It is also logical to deduce that the more we consume, the greater the strain on the natural resource base.