This stems from an interesting discussion I provoked on /r/mensrights. My essential point there was that feminism has produce some benefits for men. Anyway, one thread lead to the realisation that females, via hypergamy, may be encouraging competition amongst men to constantly try to be above/better than the average man, no matter what. Since competition for mates frequently finds expression through consumer behaviour, it seems possible that males' response to hypergamy is to ramp up conspicuous consumption, or possibly their ability to provide for such by the loved one through holding a high paying job.

Since consumerism has such a strong role to play in the poor state of our environment, I am prompted to think that hypergamy is partly responsible for poor levels of conservation behaviour in our culture.

So what do you think about the possibility that male competition for (hypergamous) females retards the uptake of conservation behaviour?