Our human body is a microcosm and planet earth is the macrocosm. As we consume resources like food, we need to burn the food to ensure we are productive. As the world consumes resources, it burns it to convert it for productive use. The challenge is that the more we consume, obviously the more we burn. And the more we burn (literally), the worse it gets for the planet. It is in this context that we need to discuss the clash and contradiction between over consumption and climate change.
The world has seen lasting peace and prosperity since World War 2, relative to the decades before it. The industrial revolution accelerated like a celebration to mark the end of wars. The formation of the United Nations, resulted in the phase of peace and with it economic prosperity. Along with this, the past four decades have also been characterized by population growth. Global population doubled from from 3.7 billion people in 1970 to 6.9 billion people in 2010, an average annual growth rate of 1.6% compounding. The global economy grew much faster, increasing from US$ 15.7 trillion in 1970 to US$ 56.8 trillion (real 2005 prices) in 2013, an average annual growth rate of 3.1%.
We have all been conditioned to focus on and celebrate economic growth. GDP growth, revenue growth, profit growth is the mantra. Perform or perish! Everything is right with this, as we still need to help millions of people out of poverty from the world. The only way to do this is to accelerate growth.
Having said that, it is also resulting in over consumption. According to an assessment report for the UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP) titled Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity, the amount of the planet’s natural resources extracted for human use has tripled in 40 years. The report says that rising consumption driven by a growing middle class has seen resources extraction increase from 22 billion tons in 1970 to 70 billon tons in 2010. And here is the problem. The increase in their use, the report warns, will ultimately deplete the availability of natural resources-causing serious shortages of critical materials and risking conflict, and most importantly will affect climate change mainly because of the large amounts of energy involved in extraction, use, transport and disposal.
"The alarming rate at which materials are now being extracted is already having a severe impact on human health and people’s quality of life," said the IRP’s co-chair, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra. "We urgently need to address this problem before we have irreversibly depleted the resources that power our economies and lift people out of poverty. This deeply complex problem, one of humanity’s biggest tests yet, calls for a rethink of the governance of natural resource extraction."
Europe and North America, which had annual per capita material footprints of 20 and 25 tons in 2010, are at the top of the table, China’s footprint was 14 tons, Brazil’s 13 tons, for the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and West Asia was 9-10 tons, and Africa’s was below 3 tons. As emerging economies strive for progress to lift millions out of poverty, it also consumes large quantities of of iron, steel, cement, energy and building materials, and as a
result spews out greenhouse gases that result in climate change
events.
What do we do about this overconsumption?
We need to disconnect economic growth with increasing resource use, luxurious living with wasteful consumption, mindful eating with over eating. We need consume consciously and sustainably. So the next time you leave a light on wastefully, or take too much food onto your plate and waste it, or leave water running in your taps as you brush your teeth, or buy toys that your kids will throw out in a day, think again - are you over consuming?
