The Conundrum

How do we truly begin to think about less—less fossil fuel, less carbon, less water, less waste, less habitat destruction, less population stress—when

Making more goods from fewer inputs reduces the material content

“frugality first induces efficiency second; efficiency first dissipates itself by making frugality appear less necessary. Frugality keeps the economy at a sustainable scale; efficiency of allocation helps us live better at any scale, but does not help us set the scale itself.” If we impose limits on our consumption of fossil fuels, advances in effi

of each good, but it also makes those same goods cheaper and, ultimately, more plentiful and expendable, and all of that additional buying and selling makes us richer, and as we grow richer we have the means and the will to buy even more.

Too much of our current effort, worldwide, is wasted on disparate, small-scale, miracle-seeking research studies and “demonstration” projects, which provide incomes and interesting activities for university professors, venture capitalists, public-relations firms, lecturers, panel moderators, government agencies, corporations, nonprofit organization

even when we act with what we believe to be the best of intentions, our efforts are often at cross-purposes with our goals. That’s the conundrum.

at the individual level, a meaningful response to environmental challenges consists of choices about what he calls “personal infrastructure”: “Which car? Which house? Which job (physical location in relation to the house)? Which large appliances? Which HVAC system? Which diet (vegetarian/omnivore)?

as we’ve gotten better at making things, we’ve made more things.

We’re consumers at heart, and our response to difficulties of all kinds usually involves consumption in one form or another: