Humanity is destroying Earth’s ability to support complex life. But coming to grips with the magnitude of the problem is hard, even for experts.
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Articles on Overconsumption
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If the tourism minister is worried about the wider social, economic and environmental impacts of visitors, he'd be better off banning cruise ships, not backpackers.
Our species has far exceeded its fair share of the planetary bounty, and Brown is right to call for the global population to peak.
It is easy for people in the industrialised world to blame population growth elsewhere for environmental damage. But increased consumption is just as important – if more confronting.
Putting all of our eggs in the net zero basket is merely kicking the can down the road.
The cost of land and, in turn, housing forces people to buy into the rules of market capitalism, making it very hard to 'downshift' from consumer lifestyles. But what if we rethink public housing?
Beloved film director Agnès Varda died at age 90, on March 29th. She was a pioneer of French New Wave cinema and admired for her ability to understand time and see beauty outside of mechanical norms.
Australian cities are world-leading – in the worst sense – for resource use and greenhouse emissions. China-born residents have embraced these consumption patterns, which is bad news for the planet.
Is 3D printing better for the environment than conventional manufacturing? The jury is still out.
Under some circumstances, people may feel wealthier than they actually are and this makes them psychologically more prone to increase their spending, as well as their borrowing.
Shakespeare wrote of the 'seven ages of man', and our appetite for food changes as we age too – with implications for our health.
A new book about what we consume and what it is doing to us raises lots of good points, but lacks a little on the ‘what is to be done’ question.
Information is assumed to be key to changing people's attitudes and behaviour. Sadly this isn't the case.
After Christmas, and the Boxing Day sales, it seems like a good time to ask: what is the purpose of all this consumption?
Leonardo DiCaprio's new climate documentary is an urgent call for the promised green tech revolution. But it shows too much faith in politicians and corporations to change their ways.
Top contributors
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Honorary Professor, Australian National University
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Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology
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Honorary Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
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Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University
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Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Transitions and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Swinburne Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology
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President, Center for Conservation Biology, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
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Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne
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Assistant Professor in Additive Manufacturing Management, University of Nottingham
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Associate Professor, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, University of Florida
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Professor of Tourism, University of Otago
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Research Scholar, Resident Fellow in Industrial Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
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Research Associate in Social Movements, Keele University
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Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles
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Professor of Consumer Research, University of Bath
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Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Bath
