Consumption

"It is not necessity but abundance which produces greed."
-Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533–1592)

With an abundance of goods comes more opportunities to buy those goods, which leads to people buying much more than they actually need. Even back in the sixteenth century, before the mass production of goods brought on by the Industrial Revolution, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne understood human nature's worst dispositions, greed. Although he could clearly interpret abundance's effect on this terrible emotion, there was no way he could fathom the impact the Industrial Revolution would have on the world. The greed he was acquainted with in the 1500s was nothing compared to the malignant indulgence we experience everyday.