The Era Of Sustainable Consumption Is Over — Why That May Be Good News For The Planet

BERLIN — Let’s begin with clothing, for a timely reason. People are buying more clothes than ever before, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency. And it’s hard not to set those numbers (19 kilograms, or nearly 42 pounds, per capita in the most recent reporting year) alongside other statistics. For example, the rise in global air passenger numbers, or the stagnation of organic food’s market share in Germany.

This paints a bigger ideological picture. And that’s what makes the report so interesting. The days when an ecologically conscious lifestyle was fashionable are over. People are back to consuming like there’s literally no tomorrow.

The signs point to a parting of ways from an ecologically mindful cosmopolitanism that manages its emotions with restraint, that thinks about its children and grandchildren, and even takes a kind of joy in doing the right thing, because a wind turbine really can be a beautiful toy.