You see it walking around – we usually interact with others from our consumer self and are most spoken to as our consumer self. In fact, it has such a devastating effect on all aspects of our environment that the Union of Concerned Scientists lists meat-eating as one of the biggest environmental hazards facing the Earth. Obesity: Towards a system of libertarian paternalistic public health interventions. Overpopulation and Our Environment There are many people advocating that overpopulation is detrimental to the environment and other species. Much of greenhouse emission is caused by the agricultural sector as well. Now she has followed up the video with a book of the same name. And the free market and climate sceptic think tank The Competitive Enterprise Institute, called the project "community college Marxism in a ponytail." Waste and recycling are now burning policy issues. Specifically, she's worried about our leaders' love affair with waste incinerators. By measuring ‘secondary impacts’ – the environmental effects of producing the goods and products we buy every day – the researchers say consumers are responsible for more than 60 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and up to 80 percent of global water use. Part of the problem, according to Leonard, is our confused sense of self. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The present overexploitation of resources is not sustainable so that policies have to be introduced to reverse present environmental deterioration; hence, a change in agricultural practices has become essential. The Economics of Addictive Behaviours Volume IV, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62536-2_9. (2001). At her home in California she and another five families have chosen community over stuff, tearing down the fences between their homes. Anthropocentrically, fresh water is a vital resource for the survival of our population. Most dams in the United States were built mainly for flood control, municipal water supply, and irrigation water. Just not most of us in the western world who often over-consume. But now developing countries are catching up rapidly, to the detriment of the environment… Dinda, S. (2005). Population growth is placing stress on the natural environment, creating scarcity, and leading to problems such as deforestation and global warming. Over his 50-year career, Lester Brown has become known for his accurate global environmental predictions. pp 67-73 | Consumption can be good, she says. Not affiliated “Effects of Over-Consumption and Increasing Populations.” Global Issues. Presently, agriculture is the biggest user of fresh water and is also a major contributor to pollution. Fox News branded it "full of misleading numbers". Of the total energy consumed in the United States, about 40% is used to generate electricity, making electricity use an important part of each person’s environmental footprint.Producing and using electricity more efficiently reduces both the amount of fuel needed to generate electricity and the amount of greenhouse gases and other air pollution emitted as a result. Our obsessive relationship with material things is actually jeopardising our relationships, "Which are proven over and over to be the biggest determining factor in our happiness [once our basic needs are met].". "I don't want to be callous to the people who really do need more stuff". Today’s consumption is a major cause of environmental degradation. People just want to be able to eat their steak or chicken without worrying about the effects on the planet. They claim there exist environmental degradation of ecosystems, ecological life, and depletion of natural resources like water, trees, air, oxygen, and fossil fuels, etc. The meat debate appears overwhelming – because it is. According to Annie Leonard – former Greenpeace activist, unwavering optimist and waste obsessive – the tip is akin to society's secret journal. But it's not just one little thing, it's what every single thing in our life depends upon.". Growing primary material consumption will affect climate change mainly because of the large amounts of energy involved in extraction, use, transport and disposal. ", She is sure of one thing though: "Change is inevitable. ", Leonard's film has its critics. Deforestation has many effects, including decreasing oxygen levels (and increasing greenhouse gases), elevated risk of soil erosion and the destruction of animal habitats. Yes, wasting water is actually bad for the environment. "Its not a big deal", she says. "It's just so depressing. The effects of the way things are produced and consumed today have impacts all around the world. Skipper, R. A. But as is the case with industrial agriculture, some groups have endeavored to create a positive counter-impact to deforestation’s detrimental effects on the environment. Part of Springer Nature. For example, the use of fossil fuels for energy (to drive our bigger cars, heat and cool our bigger houses) has an impact on global CO 2 levels and resulting environmental effects. (2012). review this trend, which has major negative consequences for land and water use and environmental change. "It turns out our stuff isn't making us any happier," she argues. The problem is that we are so comfortable there that when we're faced with really big problems [like climate change], we think about what to do as individuals and consumers: 'I should buy this instead of this. To complicate matters, environmental impacts of high levels of consumption are not confined to the local area or even country. "The real solution is not perfecting your ability to choose the best option, it's getting that product off the shelf," she says. Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. ", Like George Monbiot, Leonard doesn't think so-called ethical consumption, or greensumption is going to get us out of the problem either. You can't keep using one and a half planet's worth of resources indefinitely. Together they suggest we are witnessing nothing short of the collapse of social fabric across society. Anup Shah, Effects of Over-Consumption and Increasing Populations, Global Issues, Updated: September 26, 2001. The primary environmental effect of energy overuse is an increase in your carbon footprint, but there are simple changes you can make at home to … "Stuff" became a fascination for Leonard in her teens, choosing field trips to landfills while at university when she began to question how we came to build an economy based purely on resources. ', "If you're going to vote with your dollar that's fine," Leonard says. "Environmentalists need to figure out a way of talking about this stuff in a more engaging and inviting way, and that is what I hope I'm doing with this book. All forms of electricity generation have an environmental impact on our air, water and land, but it varies. The environmental impact that meat consumption has had on the world is only expected to increase in the next coming years. Human food consumption and agricultural practices have caused biodiversity to decline. Leonard calls upon wider research to argue the sociological and psychological consequences of our all-consuming epidemic, including that of Tim Kasser and Robert Putman. straining the already scarce resources. For example, the things we buy contribute, directly or indirectly through the product lifecycle, to climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and resource depletion in Europe and other regions. But consumerism is always bad, adding little to our wellbeing as well as being disastrous for the planet. And we just have so much fun. Leonard does note some positive differences: the NHS, our liberal political discourse – allowing us to utter the words capitalism and unsustainable in the same large breath, and she likes the fact that washing lines are not a threatened species. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available, The Economics of Addictive Behaviours Volume IV ...Section A Consumption and its effects on the environment The goal of this theme is to instill awareness on everyone so that the natural catastrophes that we are experiencing in many parts of the world can be prevented, or at least minimized. As the demand for goods increases, the need to produce these goods also increases. Kasser identified a connection between an excessively materialistic outlook and increased levels of anxiety and depression, while Putman argues we're paying the ultimate price for our consumeristic tendencies with the loss of friendships, neighbourly support and robust communities. Although many of these dams have hydroelectric generators, only a small number of dams were built specifically for hydropower generation. Cite as. That was 20 years ago, and a lot has changed. In fact, she feels lots of people should be consuming more. The report's authors reached their conclusions by weighing different side-effects of food production. Power companies use a variety of processes to create electricity, and not all processes affect the environment in the same way. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. Three years on and it's a viral online phenomenon; seen by 10 million people in homes and classrooms all over the world. Head to the tip. It is also a backbone to globalization in its current form and this often maintains disparities between the rich and poor. Too often the environment is seen as one small piece of the economy. As he enters retirement, he warns the world may face the worst hunger crisis of our lifetimes Several Factors Affect Population Growth’s Impact on the Environment. Home » Overpopulation, Over-Consumption & Environment . For example, coal is a much more environmentally problematic source of energy than solar power, which has minimal environmental effects. Overpopulation is the exasperating force behind global warming, environmental pollution, habitat loss, intensive farming practices, and the consumption of finite natural resources, such as fresh water, arable land and fossil fuels, at speeds faster than their rate of regeneration. Meat consumption is rising annually as human populations grow and affluence increases. Overpopulation, Over-Consumption & Environment. However, eating meat is increasingly being viewed as a guilty pleasure. Zero waste is a term that gets thrown around a lot, most recently this week by environment secretary Caroline Spelman. They included greenhouse gases, water and crop use, nitrogen or phosphorous from fertilizers… There are anthropocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric reasons why wasting water is bad. Although meat is a concentrated source of nutrients for low-income families, it also enhances the risks of chronic ill health, such as from colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease. ", Many have argued against the minor details of the book, but few have questioned the fundamental premise that our current use of resources is unsustainable. Erosion-crop productivity relationships for soils of Africa. One thing that does bug Leonard about this country, though, is our pyromania. Hydropower generators produce clean electricity, but hydropower does affect the environment. Where affluence and consumption is high, reducing the number of new consumers is an effective, permanent way of reducing the drain they place on resources, as well as their environmental impact. Alternatively, copy/paste the following MLA citation format for this page: Shah, Anup. “The past half century has seen marked growth in food production, allowing for a dramatic decrease in the proportion of the world’s people that are hungry, despite a … Much of greenhouse emission is caused by the agricultural sector as well. A theoretical basis for the environmental Kuznets curve. (2006). A change in diets from meat towards vegetables would reduce obesity as well as land degradation. Andreoni, J., & Levinson, A. If you really want to understand a country, a society, or even a civilization, don't turn to its national museums or government archives. Lal, R. (1995). Not logged in In 2007, Leonard tried a novel medium – a YouTube video – to convey the message. Three years on and it's a viral online phenomenon; seen by 10 million people in homes and classrooms all over the world. This may well be one of the answers, and the book provides a few more. But many have found it hard to argue Leonard doesn't live up to her values. 26 Sep. 2001. "Our consumer self is so overdeveloped that we spend most of our time there. But between 60-80 percent of the impacts on the planet come from household consumption. The simple analytics of the environmental Kuznets curve. Now she has followed up the video with a book of the same name. Human food consumption and agricultural practices have caused biodiversity to decline. 15. "It is a linear system and we live on a finite planet. According to the agency, the result means surrounding environments can be heavily polluted, particularly surrounding water pools, which have experienced an increase in pollution as a result of various construction projects in recent years. But overconsumption worsens climate breakdown and increases air pollution. She isn't even anti-consumption. By Steven Rausch. ", Story of Stuff creator Annie Leonard's new book examines the high price of the western world's obession with all things material, US cult of greed is now a global environmental threat, report warns, Fred Pearce: Consumption dwarfs population as main environmental threat, most recently this week by environment secretary Caroline Spelman. You cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water. For Leonard, a complete overhaul in our approach involves a real cradle-to-cradle revolution; marrying intelligent design upstream and consumer incentivised recycling and composting downstream. © 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. "[It's] a particular strand of overconsumption, where we purchase things, not to fulfil our basic needs, but to fill some voids about our lives and make social statements about ourselves," she explains. The Story of Stuff was a frank and cleverly animated short film telling the story of the American love affair with stuff and how it is quite literally trashing the planet. We recycle a little over 1 pound per person each day. Americans and Western Europeans have had a lock on unsustainable over- consumption for decades. Consumption of products and services impacts the environment in many different ways. Globally, animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gases than … We've allowed our citizen self to be dwarfed by a relatively new reflex action – consume, consume, consume. Agricultural degradation of the land reduces agricultural productivity, so that as the yield declines it leads to further increase in land use for agriculture and therefore greater deforestation. The Population Of The Planet Is Reaching Unsustainable 1377 Words | 6 Pages. We are all just regular families in these six houses [who] share things. 167.88.160.91. "But you need to remember that Exxon has a lot more dollars than you. Over the years, our appetite for raw materials has grown – from 1970 to 2010 our natural resource consumption more than tripled. Presently, agriculture is the biggest user of fresh water and is also a major contributor to pollution. ", The Story of Stuff is about America, but how is the UK faring? Effects of consumerism on the environment: Pollution and resource depletion As well as obvious social and economic problems, consumerism is destroying our environment. Even fewer have doubted her optimism. This is a preview of subscription content. Godfray et al. "We don't have matching clothes and its not like a commune of anything. We need to vote with our votes; re-engage with the political process and change the balance of power so that those who are looking out for the wellbeing of the planet dominate, instead of those who are just looking our for the bottom line. Forty countries, hundreds of factories and still more landfills later , Leonard worries we have not grasped the fundamental problem with our materials economy. Your diet, the experts warn, affects the environment and your individual health. But Leonard doesn't pretend to have them all, and she's reluctant to commit to a new economic paradigm, either, because "we haven't invented it yet. "It's increasingly looking like buying green delays people engaging with the political process. Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips. Download Citation | The Environmental Effects of Overconsumption | Human food consumption and agricultural practices have caused biodiversity to … Incinerators are such a regressive way of dealing with waste materials. Norwegian University of … We need to promote zero waste as an alternative.". ... answer to the doom question is that growing population is a problem that left unsolved could indeed have very harmful effects, both on the environment and our current life styles. Leonard has surprised many, though, by not actually being against stuff.

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