Overconsumption: Why Living on Less Is So Hard

In this eye-opening interview with Spahr, we discuss the challenges of reducing consumption and offer ideas for solving our ecological crisis. We touch on:  

• What sustainability really means
• Which countries are sustainable 
• How a sustainable lifestyle would look for 8 billion people
• Why it’s almost impossible to reduce your overall consumption even if you put in a lot of effort
• Why it’s complicated to shift the way entire governments and the global economy functions to reduce overconsumption
• How shortening the work week would help people and planet’s well-being 
• Why promoting smaller families is the most powerful and systemic strategy

Terry Spahr is a filmmaker, environmental activist, and the Executive Director of Earth Overshoot, a nonprofit that raises awareness about unsustainable population growth and consumption. In 2019, he produced 8 Billion Angels, a documentary film that exposes overpopulation as the upstream cause of all our environmental problems. 

Links:

• 8 Billion Angels (film)
• Earth Overshoot
• MVP Sustainability Map