Worldwatch Institute
WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE Mind Over Matter: Recasting the Role of Materials in Our Lives GARY GARDNER AND PAYAL SAMPAT Jane A. Peterson, Editor WORLDWATCH PAPER 144 December 1998 For more information about the Worldwatch Institute and other Worldwatch publications, please visit our website at http://www.worldwatch.org THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE is an independent, nonprofit envi- ronmental research organization in Washington, DC. Its mission is to fos- Table of Contents ter a sustainable society in which human needs are met in ways that do not threaten the health of the natural environment or future generations. To this end, the Institute conducts interdisciplinary research on emerging Introduction . 5 global issues, the results of which are published and disseminated to deci- sionmakers and the media. Constructing a Material Century . 9 The Shadow Side of Consumption . 17 FINANCIAL SUPPORT for the Institute is provided by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett The Limits to Efficiency . 24 Foundation, W. Alton Jones Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Curtis and Edith Munson Remaking the Material World . 32 Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Rasmussen Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Financial Services, Summit Founda- Shifting Gears . 42 tion, Surdna Foundation, Turner Foundation, U.N. Population Fund, Wallace Notes . 50 Genetic Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Weeden Foundation, and the Winslow Foundation. The Institute also receives financial support from the Tables and Figures Friends of Worldwatch and from our Council of Sponsor members: Tom and Cathy Crain, Toshishige Kurosawa, Kazuhiko Nishi, Roger and Vicki Sant, Table 1: Growth in World Materials Production, 1960–95 .
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