Consumerism part 2

The most interesting thing I learned about consumerism came from the story of stuff video. I learned that consumerism really was a cycle of companies telling you how much you need a product and then going out and buying that product. I guess Christmas is the climax of that cycle where people go out and spend on all the products they think they need. Then i found this article which talks about how not only are we obsessed with consumerism but, we consume huge things. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101108/us_time/08599202989900). Our houses, cars, and food portions are all so much bigger than were 20 years ago. The article mentions that even the benefits of going big such as the low prices at Walmart have flaws as well. The question I have is how do we respond to being bigger? Is it possible to change our perception of size. More importantly is this gluttony or science? Do we really need all these bigger things.