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Articles on Consumption

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A worker sorts cardboard at a recycling center in Newark, N.J. Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste

New research shows that Americans may have absorbed public messaging about the importance of recycling too well.
Image of Earth’s city lights, created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. NASA/Newsmakers via Getty Images

What the controversial 1972 ‘Limits to Growth’ report got right: Our choices today shape future conditions for life on Earth

A 1972 report warned that unchecked consumption could crater the world economy by 2100. Fifty years and much debate later, can humanity innovate quickly enough to avoid that fate?
The longer you hold off on using an everyday purchase, the more likely you are to preserve it untouched. kupicoo/E+ via Getty Images

Psychological ‘specialness spirals’ can make ordinary items feel like treasures – and may explain how clutter accumulates

Have you ever bought an item and then just not gotten around to using it because the time never felt right? New studies suggest an explanation for what researchers call nonconsumption.

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