“The is enough for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed.

” 
~ Gandhi~

Consuming more than we need creates a demand that the planet can't cope with. Natural resources are
being gobbled up faster than the Earth can replenish them. It's also struggling to cope with the resulting
waste and emissions. We take too much stuff from nature, make it into stuff we use – from chemicals to
plastics to fertilizer to smart phones to meat – and then dispose of it carelessly into the atmosphere, the
oceans and the land.

The overconsumption of energy, water and raw materials worsens climate change and increases air
pollution. It exhausts the planet's life support systems like the ones that provide us with fresh water,
and leaves us short of materials critical to our health and quality of life – says a UN report.

Fresh water reserves, fish stocks and forests are shrinking, many species are under threat of extinction
and fertile land is being destroyed.

And all for what? Are we any happier? Apparently not. Unmanaged consumerism appears to contribute
to a range of physical and psychological problems [PDF], like obesity and depression.

"We urgently need to address this problem before we have irreversibly depleted the resources that
power our economies and lift people out of poverty." Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, International Resource
Panel.

https://friendsoftheearth.uk/natural-resources

Food, water and energy supply issues are already leading to localized scarcities, famine, and conflict in
many parts of the world. Nevertheless, some predatory multinational corporations are still actively
exacerbating these problems in the interest of a few, rather than helping to find solutions that protect
the global commons and ensure basic access to essential needs for all of humanity. If we want to
redesign economics to shift the global economy towards sustainability, we have to learn to create
abundance through collaboration. As Gandhi said:

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-04-16/the-unacceptable-collateral-damage-of-
overconsumption/

Human food consumption and agricultural practices have caused biodiversity to decline. Presently,
agriculture is the biggest user of fresh water and is also a major contributor to pollution. Much of
greenhouse emission is caused by the agricultural sector as well. The present overexploitation of
resources is not sustainable so that policies have to be introduced to reverse present environmental
deterioration; hence, a change in agricultural practices has become essential. Agricultural degradation of
the land reduces agricultural productivity, so that as the yield declines it leads to further increase in land
use for agriculture and therefore greater deforestation. A change in diets from meat towards vegetables
would reduce obesity as well as land degradation.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-62536-2_9
Ehrlich was right, however, to point out that humanity’s impact on the planet is a combination of three
elements: our numbers, our consumption patterns and how we produce what we consume. So,
because massive poverty and unmet demand for basic goods is a widespread problem in much of the
poor world today, we still face a “consumption bomb" — our growing demands for both consumer
goods and life necessities are responsible for runaway climate change and the depletion of soils, water
and other essential planetary life-support systems.

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/06/08/is-overpopulation-a-legitimate-threat-to-
humanity-and-the-planet/overconsumption-is-a-grave-threat-to-humanity

Overall, the Earth suffers from land degradation; biodiversity loss; air, land and water pollution; and
the effects of climate change—and must prevent and manage further risks and disasters. Without
changes, the situation looks bleak for all of its inhabitants. A major extinction event is underway,
compromising the globe’s “ability to meet human needs,” the report warns.

Biodiversity helps regulate climate, filters air and water, forms soil, and mitigates the effects of natural
disasters, the team explains. Yet, populations of species are declining and extinction rates are rising.
Presently, 42 percent of land-based invertebrates, 34 percent of freshwater invertebrates, and 25
percent of marine invertebrates are at risk for extinction. Biodiversity disproportionately affects women,
children, and the poor. The livelihoods of 70 percent depend directly on natural resources.

Human populations suffer from the reverse. The population is on track to reach nearly 10 billion by
2050. Without “profound and urgent” changes in production and consumption patterns, that population
growth will continue and the planet will not be able to support it in a healthy, productive, and fulfilled
way by mid-century. Ninety percent of that growth will take place in Africa and Asia. Almost all coastal
cities of any size are vulnerable to sea-level rise and flooding caused by extreme weather events.

As for the Earth itself, 10 out of 14 land habitats have seen a decrease in vegetation productivity. Forty
percent of wetlands have been lost to agriculture and urban development since 1970. Farm land is
becoming less fertile and useful, due in part to inefficient and unsustainable farming systems. Degraded
“hot spots,” no longer able to easily grow crops, now account for 29 percent of all land areas.
Deforestation has slowed, but continues. Genetic diversity is in decline, threatening food security.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/03/un-healthy-planet-report-environment/
 WALEY PART

The State of the World, 1999 Report from the Worldwatch Institute suggests that the global economy
could be seriously affected by environmental problems, such as the lack of access to enough resources
to meet growing population demands.

Environmental degradation can contribute to social and political instability, which can lead to security
issues. This has not currently been addressed by the foreign policy of many nations.

(As a side note, it is interesting to note that there are books and insights popping up that predict future
wars will be a new kind of war; resource wars. Yet, this is what it has typically been throughout history,
but fortified with ideologies and religions. Ideologies and religions offer different ways to live, and hence
different ways to use resources. See the trade and economics section for more on this aspect.)

As the effects of globalization are creating further disparities and inequalities, around the world we are
seeing an increase in violence and human rights abuses as disputes about territories, food and water are
spilling into wars and internal conflicts. People are fighting for basic needs.

The following are some of the areas of current and future tension. (Note how in the case of many of the
regions mentioned below, wealthier nations have often been involved to extract and consume the
resources leaving even less in the region for growing populations to contend with.)

1. the various conflicts in Africa. It is also feared that conflicts involving water will increase.
2. the Middle East where national interests in the vast oil fields have led to wars and influence
from states like USA and UK.
3. the 1998 riots in Indonesia fueled by the current global financial crisis.
4. the Nile area, where Egypt rely on downstream water largely controlled by Ethiopia.
5. Iraq, Syria and Turkey where there is tension surrounding the water flow of the Euphrates and
Tigris.
6. Israel and Jordan, where Israel cut water supplies to Jordan due to sever drought
7. Israel and Palestine also are fighting over water resources as well.
8. The Chiapas region in Mexico
9. Water scarcity in the Gaza region has contributed to the tensions in the Middle East.
10. Environmental scarcity and social tensions in Pakistan have led to a worsening situation.
11. Tensions in the Narmada region in India between indigenous people and the government.
12. Environmental scarcity in Rwanda contributed to the ethnic conflicts in 1994.
13. Degradation on the environment and an increase in population is fueling tension in South Africa.
14. In Equador, it is predicted that extreme violence is going to be seen at indigenous protests
against giant oil corporations.

World Watch Institute also point out that water will once again be at the center of new conflicts. They
point out that things like IMF and World Bank-backed privatization policies, flawed big dam projects etc
have caused further tensions, protest and violence.
Many from those conflicts above, and other conflicts not listed, also see the underlying cause of overly
corporate-led globalization as a root cause as well, as they and the foreign policies of the wealthier
nations have allowed economic and resource-controlling policies to be instituted in their favor.

Also, while famine is often said to result from effects that are said to be caused by over-population, it is
often overlooked on how the impact of politics and economics have a far more significant impact on
famines than do "over" population and that those impacted would have a distinct class distinction.

“Modern famine responds far more to market forces than to absolute physical scarcities and rarely strikes the well-
off. During the great Irish potato famine of 1846-57 which killed close to 1 million people, large landowners
routinely exported food to Britain as poor peasants dropped all around them. ... Even in 'classic' twentieth-century
Third World famines like that of Bengal in 1943 which killed several millions, wealthy tables remained laden. During
the African famines of the 1980s one never heard of massive deaths among bureaucrats, businessmen and army
officers ... In the North or the South today it would take a rare combination of circumstances - utterly failed
harvests plus a shutdown of trade due to war or similar calamity - to reduce the rich to malnourishment, much less
starvation.”

Susan George, The Lugano Report, (Pluto Press, 1999), pp.105-106

https://www.globalissues.org/article/216/effects-of-over-consumption-and-increasing-populations