The great American industry that geared up for WWII was not about to gear down after the war. As a result

Consume, Consume, Consume
The Legacy of the 20th Century

Some examples of consumption:

Aluminum:

Copper:

Cows and Chickens:

McDonalds Restauraunts:

Number of Shopping Centers:

Fertilizer:

Ultimately, too rapid of resource consumption takes the earth's natural systems out of equilibrium and that will lead to instability in the global natural system.

The best manifestation of this the human impact on the Nitrogen Cycle. In essence, humans, through fertilizer, have mined Atmospheric Nitrogen and dumped it directly into marine estuaries causing worldwide eutrophication (loss of dissolved oxygen in water).