In a way, the green movement should have been a red flag. People suddenly did not want to buy multiple disposable items; they wanted fewer, more durable items that could be purchased once and reused, kept handy on a kitchen shelf along with a good clean conscience. They wanted more efficient laundry detergent, hybrid cars that used less gas, fewer pesticides in their food, and less packaging in general.

Consumerism was never just about buying stuff. It was about a faith in boundless economic growth. Tomorrow brings more goods, more choice, more shopping. It was about binding our personal identities with the brands we bought and the market segments we inhabited. It was about accumulating more goods as "reward" for enduring less satisfying work lives. It was about social and community structures where shopping malls became centers of community, where suburbia and home-ownership were vehicles for displaying our purchases. It was about a cult of celebrity that lionized Trump, Brangelina and Hannah Montana. Fame …