As per Worldwatch, Consumerism had taken root in culture upon culture over the past half-century and has become a powerful driver of the inexorable increase in demand for resources and production of waste that marks our age.
Erik Assadourian, the institute’s project director, said it was “no longer enough to change our light bulbs, we must change our very cultures”.
At current consumption rates, 200 square metres of solar panels a second and 24 wind turbines every hour were needed to be built to satisfy energy levels.
The think tank said it was not just the United States that was guilty of a culture of excess with other developing countries such as Brazil, India and China adopting greed as a success symbol.
China, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emissions producers, recently overtook the US as the world's top car market.
"More than 6.8 billion human beings are now demanding, ever greater quantities of material resources, decimating the world's richest ecosystems, and dumping billions of tons of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere each year," the report said.
This number will only increase as people in the developing world aspire towards a Western-styled consumer lifestyle.
Mr Assadourian added: “Until we recognize that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilization.
“We've seen some encouraging efforts to combat the world's climate crisis in the past few years. "But making policy and technology changes while keeping cultures centred on consumerism and growth can only go so far.”
He said such measures such as banning incandescent light bulbs and steering children away from consumerism through toy libraries etc., would help.
Author and Credits: Andrew Hough
Author and Credits: Andrew Hough