overconsumption

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    The Recycling Industry in America Is Broken

    The Recycling Industry in America Is Broken

    Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. According to The National Museum of American History, this popular slogan, with its iconic three arrows forming a triangle, embodied a national call to action to save the environment in the 1970s. In that same decade, the first Earth Day happened, the EPA was formed and Congress passed the Resource Conservation and […]

    5 Ways to Curb the Power of Corporations and Billionaires

    5 Ways to Curb the Power of Corporations and Billionaires

    By Jeremy Lent We need to rein in the destructive power of corporations and billionaires before it’s too late. These five ideas would do that, while leaving global capitalism intact. Ultimately, only a complete transformation of our economic system will save our future, but these proposals could set changes in motion that might eventually take […]

    Culture Shift: Redirecting Humanity’s Path to a Flourishing Future

    Culture Shift: Redirecting Humanity’s Path to a Flourishing Future

    By Jeremy Lent What do all these ideas have in common—a tax on carbon, big investments in renewable energy, a livable minimum wage and freely accessible healthcare? The answer is that we need all of them, but even taken together they’re utterly insufficient to redirect humanity away from impending catastrophe and toward a truly flourishing […]

    Consumer Society No Longer Serves Our Needs

    Consumer Society No Longer Serves Our Needs

    My parents were born in Vancouver—dad in 1909, mom in 1911—and married during the Great Depression. It was a difficult time that shaped their values and outlook, which they drummed into my sisters and me. “Save some for tomorrow,” they often scolded. “Share; don’t be greedy.” “Help others when they need it because one day […]

    What Will It Really Take to Avoid Collapse?

    What Will It Really Take to Avoid Collapse?

    By Jeremy Lent For a moment, the most important news in the entire world flashed across the media like a shooting star in the night sky. Then it was gone. Last month, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries issued a dire warning to humanity. Because of our overconsumption of the world’s resources, they declared, […]