Consumption Theory - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 57

model is that if the implications of the construct are followed, the materi-
als extracted from nature at the beginning of the conversion process are
in effect treated as though they disappear from the face of the Earth with
the act of consumption. When anything is consumed, it is gone. Foodstuffs
and their packaging vanish. Old automobiles vaporize when they no longer
run. And, all traces of impacts at any point in the economic chain disap-
pear. Mine tailings, environmental costs of manufacturing, air pollution,
and resource depletion due to multiple requirements for transportation do
not exist. In short, and again, ignored is the fact that in the real world, noth-
ing is finally consumed, but rather everything is merely converted to something else.
In the “perfect” world of the throughput model, there are no environmental
impacts or resource depletion.
The significance of treating the natural environment in this manner can-
not be overstated. The core of economic methodology ignores any environ-
mental effects of extraction, production, distribution, and consumption—the
vital activities of carrying on any economy, whether that economy is sophis-
ticated or relatively primitive. Of course, over the last few decades, it has
become clear that the environmental effects of extraction, production, and
distribution, cannot be ignored—except at our collective, long-term peril.
Thus, we have seen the development of such subfields as environmental eco-
nomics and ecological economics. It is indicative, however, that the method-
ological treatment of such effects proceeds under the term externalities . (This
branch of economic theory is afforded separate attention in Chapter 7 and
will not be further discussed here.) Suffice it to say, common sense dictates
that any field of study that labels as “external” the factors that threaten our
way of life and the health of the planet, should not be turned loose to direct
the material affairs of humankind.
Consumption in Practice
This section consists of two parts: (1) from necessities to wants and (2)
assumed insatiability.
From Necessities to Wants
We may return periodically to other implications of the Throughput Model,
but it is necessary to explore further the evolution of the concept of con-
sumption. From the earliest subsistence-oriented notion of consuming for
survival, the concept has undergone much expansion. The notion of meet-
ing basic requirements is continually evolving. At first, the expansion of the
notion of “necessities” grew simply to “needs” and then to “wants,” which
are today expressed as “demands.” After all, once economic activity is