Thinking Abut Consumption
• Globally, 20% of the world's people in the industrialized countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures, while the poorest 20% account for 1.3%• There are 16 cars per 1,000 people in developing countries and 405 cars per 1,000 people in industrialized countries.
• For every five cars added to the U.S. fleet, an area the size of a football field is covered with asphalt.
• Americans consume 40% of the world's gasoline and more paper, steel, aluminum, energy, water, and meat per capita than any other society on the planet.
• The average American produces twice as much garbage as the average European.
• Material output to the environment from economic activity is 25 metric tons (2,200 lbs. in a metric ton) per person per year in the united States.
• Recent scientific estimates indicate that at least four additional planets would be needed if each of the planet's 6 billion inhabitants consumed at the level of the average American.
• In 1998, over 1.4 million families declared personal bankruptcy, credit card debt reached new heights, and the personal savings rate fell to the lowest level since the Great Depression.
• The average employed American now works more than 47 hours a week in the struggle to keep up with mounting bills, causing tremendous stress.
What to do? here is something to think about
From: Natural Resources Defense Council: A Responsible Energy Policy for the 21st Century (http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy)Responsible Oil Policy: Fuel Efficiency, Not Foolish Development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge