In the formal language of material and energy flow analysis, the consumption patterns and practices of households are key determinants and drivers of both biophysical flows and the accumulation of material stocks.

For social ecology, there can be no “output” of goods and services, no build-up of productive capacity in “inputs” or fixed capital, no enjoyment of use-values, without a throughput of energy and matter, the accumulation of stocks and without the colonization of ecosystems.