I define "consumption" as shown. What we consume starts as a "resource," is "used," and then becomes "waste." Some waste can be recycled and reused, while some of it cannot (at least within a meaningful period of time).

The physical law of entropy demands that disorder always increase in a closed system (which our planet almost is, and our Universe certainly is). Other species have done an excellent job of reducing the increase in disorder by reusing almost everything, including evolving to use or reuse what can't currently can't be. Since at least the beginning of civilization, and certainly most recently, we humans have attempted to ignore this law, increasing the time that waste remains waste, unusable and even harmful to other species and us.

 

 

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