Waste Not Summary and Analysis

The problem of depleting our natural resources without accounting for the loss allows American society to live in denial of its own undoing. Unlike the natural world, the world of production is not regulated by natural feedback that makes overproduction and waste impossible, but by bosses and industry demands that insist on maintaining the status quo and keeping profit margins high. The authors use the detailed description of the makings of a can of soda to demonstrate the enormity of the waste that is accepted as a matter of course for industries worldwide.

If things continue growing at the pace they were moving in 1999 when this book was written, the number of acres of land necessary for each individual on earth to maintain an American standard of living would require twelve earths by the year 2030. In the section called...