Consumption and Energy: The Hidden Cost of Our Choices

Consumption directly impacts greenhouse gas emissions through the production, transportation, and disposal of goods and services. You can think of consumption as demand and production as the supply. These forces together formulate one of the fundamental economic models in microeconomics. Individual consumer choices influence demand, which, in turn, drives production and emissions. Increased demand for goods leads to more production and resource consumption, increasing the associated emissions. Markets are directly impacted by our consumption choices. Therefore, through our consumption decisions we have control over the entire lifecycle of a product, from raw material extraction to final disposal. Ultimately, we have control over greenhouse gas emissions.