abundance

You could ask, why are we so wasteful? Why do we use so much energy? The straightforward answer is because we can. We have found cheap energy sources such as coal, natural gas, and oil and we know how to use these quickly and efficiently. We are victims of our success.

When we say cheap, we mean it is cheap to exploit these sources. We conveniently ignore the (huge) hidden costs of mining, transporting, and burning those fuels. These hidden costs include habitat destruction, resource depletion, pollution, and global warming. 

The overconsumption is somewhat of a vicious circle. Because we have all this cheap energy, we managed to industrialize food production which in turn led to more people wasting more. In 1940, one farmer could feed only 19 people. Today, one farmer can feed 129 people. The difference is due to extra vehicles, more mechanized equipment, energy consuming irrigation systems, and petroleum derived fertilizers and pesticides. We have also developed ways to transport food over long distances. That includes extra energy consumption caused by necessary refrigeration.

The large efficiency gain has resulted in an extra 110 individuals (per food producer) that don't need to bother growing food. These individuals can engage in other activities. Other activities that are wasting more energy. An elaborate services economy was created that recently surpassed food production and other basic necessities in number of participants.

Unfortunately it will only go on like this until the bubble bursts. And burst it will because our current economy is unsustainable. Ever more people are born and need to be fed with ever fewer resources. The hidden costs are also catching up with us, both indirectly by making less land and water available, and directly by making us sick.

A logical solution would be voluntary cutbacks and rationing. Despite our great "intelligence," it appears we'd rather go bust.