Many things in life would actually be better if we limited them. We are instinctual creatures and our instincts are designed to use resources. Since these instincts evolved in a time of scarcity, we are being overwhelmed by our instinctual use of resources that make us unhealthy.
Of course, a classic example is refined sugar. Just take a look at all the studies proving time and again that a surplus of refined sugar is a horrible thing for human health, causing an increase in the risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The problems of surplus in diet is something we finally got around to acknowledging, even though we haven’t done too much about it. Manufacturers continually load up foods with refined sugar and we buy them. But surplus in other areas makes life worse as well, and we rarely acknowledge that.
A surplus in raw materials has led to us developing new models of electronics and especially phones, with old ones constantly being thrown away. If materials were scarce and phones very hard to make, we would be much more careful with them and they would last longer. Instead, we have enormous amounts of e-waste from disposable electronics such as phones, with 62 billion kilograms of e-waste being generated in 2022.
A surplus in media with unlimited streaming makes us vegetables in front of the screen. A surplus of bandwidth (high-speed internet) makes us spend endless hours online when we could be doing something healthier. And most importantly, a surplus of cheap energy makes us destroy the environment and consume well beyond what we need to be absolutely comfortable and healthy.
The bottom line is that human beings cannot handle surplus. We should not attempt to increase efficiency too much and obtain surplus because it renders us into consuming animals. Human beings in most modern societies are overridden by the instinct to consume when we can, and that is because we have introduced a surplus of every sort.
In an ideal society, we would have enough but not too much extra. The Amish understand this, regulate themselves and thus live simpler lives. If we are to have any hope of averting environmental disaster through consumerism, we need to end our surplus and excesses. And the only way to do that is to develop a love for nature and the biosphere, because such love necessarily implies respect, and respect for our finite resources mean not overusing them.