Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dimitrios1 1887 days ago
You are going to have to define what "over" means for each of those categories. Contrary to popular belief, I believe people generally consume what they need. It's much of the world coming "online", due to the global prosperity capitalism has enabled, that has resulted in such mass production of things we would do well to get rid of such as single use disposable plastics (that aren't for medical purposes, of course).
2 comments
dinamic 1887 days ago
Fast fashion is a vivid example of overconsumption, and planned obsolescence would be a good example of overproduction.

Regarding person's "needs" - I believe they are endless up to the point where person can afford them.

link
titzer 1887 days ago
If "need" includes paying $NN/mo to rent a storage container to put your extra junk, then sure, people are consuming what they need.
link
dimitrios1 1887 days ago
Most was the key qualifier in my statement.

There is no doubt that about 5% of the population have some sort of compulsive hoarding habit. But it wouldn't matter because this is irrelevant to the issue of single use plastics, the thing that generates the most waste in oceans and waterways. Nice attempt at a "gotcha" though. Let's try a good faith dialogue next time.

link
titzer 1887 days ago
It's not only that. Do we "need" to consume sodas and bottled water? Americans throw away 35 billion plastic bottles every year.

That's just the US. Literally every country I've visited, including third world countries, are consuming ungodly amounts of one-time use plastics. The reason? Plastics make the job of global megacorporations, whose only goal is to make more money, much easier, since they can package their junk food and drinks and ship them the world over.

It's not a "gotcha." I just very strongly disagree, given what I've seen everywhere I've traveled.

link