We’re staring the obvious in the face for decades: overconsumption is unsustainable. But our entire economy is based off this wasteful mode of production, so we’re sold lies and happily latch onto fantasies to convince us that we can somehow overcome the negative externalities of profit maximization. As long as there are economic incentives to create trash, we will fill the oceans with garbage. I used to believe that we could solve this with “market solutions” which incorporate the true environmental cost of wasteful production, but this is just another fantasy. Even if the real cost of pollution could be known, there is no profit incentive to enact such a scheme.

We’ve got about 20 more years of maximizing shareholder value before we run off an ecological cliff.