On March 9, 2001, the Hagley Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society hosted a one-day conference, “Consumption and the Environment,” in Wilmington, Delaware. The idea for the conference and the selection of papers were the work of graduate students in the University of Delaware's Hagley Program in the History of Technology and Industrialization. The organizers made a deliberate effort to “integrate studies of production and consumption,” “highlight the social implications of seemingly personal decisions,” and explore how changing understandings of the environment have shaped consumption choices.