CLIMATE: Environmentally and economically sustainable future?

While the consumption rate of at least 1 billion of us (industrialized world) is 32, the rate for the rest of the world is quite low. Per Jared Diamond's article on consumption rates, assuming that our rate remains the same and the rest of the developing world reaches our rate by mid-century, consumption rates would be equivalent to a total population of 72 million people!! Crazy you say? Well, China and India are the largest of these developing countries and their consumption rates are still 11 times lower than ours, and if they both catch up to us the world's consumption rate 'triples'!

Consumption and pollution are inextricably linked, and the US is the largest contributer. To help mitigate our environmental damage, 190 countries met at the United Nations conference on climate change and global warming in Bali last month (the conference was the first international effort to replace the Kyoto Protocols that expire in 2012. Talks will continue until a followup conference scheduled for 2009).

The resulting, Bali Action Plan, contains no binding commitments but states that “deep cuts in global emissions will be required” and provides a timetable for two years of talks. Paula Dobriansky, the head of the American delegation in Bali, said that she was committed to obtaining an “environmentally effective and economically sustainable” agreement by 2009.

The United States cannot dictate behavior to the rest of the world, but we can lead by example.

Thinking about and reducing consumption everyday is a great first step.

(classic Bacsik)