Is anybody able to explain why this is? 
the only direction we need to go is straight backwards
100%.
IMO on an individual level we need to start separating ourselves from the consumerism that both sustains and controls us. We can't change the system overnight but we can begin the process of starving it to death.
We need to start sustaining ourselves. Using systems that predate the capitalism that rejected it because it generated value for society and not capitalists.