"[A] key reason our
consumption behavior, especially American consumption behavior, is so environmentally
destructive is that there are enough of us (270 million in the United States) to matter.
We matter not so much individually but collectively when we waste natural resources, when
we shop till we drop, and when we vaporize petroleum cheaper than water to fuel our cars
and drive our air conditioners. And if the rest of the world follows our behavioral
example - and how could we argue they should not? - we will need another planet or two to
avoid climatological, ecological and natural-resource collapse."
-- Bob Engelman, "Population, Consumption and
the Path to Environmental Sustainability"
Overview & Connection
to a New Dream
Wonder why population and consumption are so often mentioned together? Maybe its
because they’re two sides of the same coin. Perhaps you’ve heard of the formula
I=PCT or "ecological Impact equals Population x Consumption x Technological
efficiency." Oversimplified? Yes. But it does demonstrate that, if we really want to
see a sustainable world, we must at once work to 1) reduce our overall consumption of
natural resources, 2) shift our consumption toward green goods produced by sustainable
businesses using clean, efficient technology and 3) promote efforts to stabilize global
population so that everyone on earth can have access to adequate resources.
Why do we need to stabilize population? As it stands now, the earth cannot support 6
billion people living like the average American. Imagine what will happen if we continue
on our present course which the UN estimates will be 8.5 billion by 2025 and 10 billion by
2050. If consumption levels continue to increase at their present rate, we will run out of
natural resources and overrun earth’s absorptive capacities faster than we can come
up with solutions. Already we are losing topsoil and depleting water tables in many
regions, a scary concept when we must feed nearly 100 million additional mouths every
year. We also need to think about scale -- eating lunch at McDonald’s doesn’t
seem to produce an enormous amount of waste but we have to remember to multiply by the
"millions and millions served" EACH DAY!
Even judging strictly by numbers, a popular misconception is that population growth is
only an issue for the global South. The President’s Council on Sustainable
Development reported that "The United States is the only major industrialized country
in the world experiencing population growth on a significant scale… [adding] another
Connecticut in population each year, and another California each decade."(1) Some
of the U.S.’s growth is due to immigration, but we also have one of the highest birth
rates in the industrialized world – only tiny Iceland and Ireland have birth rates as
high as the United States. This is a discouraging fact since the U.S. is the world’s
third most populous nation and many developing countries look to us as a model. UNDP
points out that one child born in the industrial world consumes more in his or her
lifetime than do 30-50 children born in developing countries. (2)
Still there is reason for hope. Population growth is irrevocably connected to health,
education, and women’s rights issues and, as these issues improve, international
organizations are reporting slower growth. Also more people desire fewer children and more
parents are obtaining family planning resources. In 1994, nations at the International
Conference on Population and Development in Cairo recognized the links between population
and consumption while reaching broad agreement that development and family planning must
be pursued simultaneously. We can realize this international goal by asking local
politicians to push for legislation that promotes education and human rights. Now
"all" we have to do is balance our consumption and share a few resources with
the world’s materially-deprived as well as those who have yet to arrive.
Footnotes
- President’s Council on Sustainable Development, Population and Consumption Task
Force Report, 1996.
- United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1998
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