Beyond waste: Sustainable consumption for community resilience

Abstract

OUR CURRENT GLOBAL SYSTEM of production and consumption of goods and services is not working for the planet, nor for its people and communities. Economic growth demands ever greater levels of consumption of newer, better, and cheaper products. Such consumption, however, undermines environmental quality, compounds inequity, and burdens communities with mounting waste management costs. It also leaves people increasingly overworked and anxious to keep up, not just with the Joneses down the street but with the wealthiest elite across the globe.