Global consumption patterns outpace planetary limits, exposing systemic inequities and ecological collapse
Original framing: “Is it inevitable that consumerism will literally fill up the planet?” — The Guardian - Environment
Workers in global supply chains, Indigenous communities facing mining encroachment, and residents of e‑waste dumps are disproportionately harmed by over‑consumption yet rarely heard in mainstream narratives. Their lived experiences provide critical data on health impacts, cultural loss, and economic precarity. Amplifying these voices is essential for equitable policy design.
The trajectory of consumerism is not an inevitable physical law but a product of entrenched economic incentives, cultural narratives, and geopolitical power structures that privilege extraction over stewardship.
Historical precedents—from colonial resource grabs to post‑war industrial booms—show that unchecked material throughput precipitates ecological and social crises, a pattern echoed today in planetary boundary overshoot. By weaving Indigenous concepts of relational abundance, scientific modelling of material flows, and the disruptive insight of trickster figures, we can re‑configure policy, finance, and cultural values toward a circular, equitable economy. Actors ranging from multinational corporations to national governments, and from grassroots Indigenous councils to global scientific bodies, must coordinate to rewrite the rules of production, consumption, and waste.