Really? The problem with this argument is that if you go look at communities where the least resources are used, to put it very mildly, you will not find happy people. Or even healthy people.

We are still in the situation that even though specific uses of resources might look wasteful, nobody has trouble coming up with good uses for more resources, even in the world's richest places. Building housing. Fighting disease. Transportation. Less resources means taking those things away from the level they're at right now.