Where human consumption differs from that of every other creature on the planet is that it doesn’t sit easily within nature’s cycles.
Julie Hill
In the past fifty years, humans have consumed more resources – or stuff – than in all previous history. At the beginning of the 1900s, some 40% of the stuff used in the wealthier parts of the world was renewable – farm, fishery or forestry products – but by the end of that century the figure was below 10%, with the majority of materials now made from metals and minerals or derived from fossil fuels.
Between 1970 and 1995, the US consumed about one-third of the materials used globally (despite having only 5% of its population), and today providing US citizens with products requires the extraction of more than 25,000 pounds (11,000 kilogrammes) of new non-fuel minerals per person each year. This pursuit of materials damages habitats, biodiversity, fisheries, and farmland.
We need to develop new design standards for the stuff around us, so that everything we buy reflects mounting environmental pressures. Imagine a world in which all energy is renewable; all gadgets are designed to generate their own energy; all products are designed to last longer, and to be easily recycled at the end of their useful lives. A world where all materials can either be circulated in the economy indefinitely, or returned to nature’s cycles. A world where our natural desires for novelty and the enjoyment of stuff are met in ways that are compatible with a world of 9+ billion people. Imagine a world where we design out waste, and design in a secure future. If we don’t ask for that world, we won’t get it.
