In the meantime, we have not sufficiently developed alternate energy technologies. In the last few decades, nations that were too poor to benefit from the Industrial Revolution have begun dramatically increasing their consumption of fossil fuels as larger proportions of their populations become able to afford modern conveniences. As a result, societies in China (in particular) are now experiencing the exact same problems once experienced by European industrial cities immediately after the Industrial Revolution (Poiman & Poiman, 2007). Meanwhile, in the First-World nations, production and consumption habits in relation to other byproducts of fossil fuels have been exploited to produce a wide variety of goods made from plastics and other petroleum-based products (Poiman & Poiman, 2007). A consumption-oriented mentality has generated incredible volumes of trash that, because if its petroleum-based composition, is not biodegradable....

The solution to the problem of irresponsible consumption must emphasize both government regulation and also education of the population to increase awareness of the need to make environmentally responsible changes to consumer behavior.
References

Attfield, R. (2003). Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the Twenty-First Century.

Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Poiman, L.P. And Poiman, P. (2007). Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application. Florence, KY: Wadsworth-Cengage.