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Page added on April 4, 2014
Excessive consumption
Just 80% of global private consumption is snapped up by 20% of the world population living in the richest countries, which is “left overs” for 80% of the population (5.6 billion people), residing in poorer countries and in the process of development, with only 20% of world production. Only the U.S., with 4.5% of the world population consumes 40% of all available resources.
Large-scale consumption is synonymous with degradation of natural ecosystems; more physical production is the result, clear and evident, more pollution, more waste (disposal) and less preserved environment, compromising greatly in the quality of life for all.
Not coincidentally, etymologically the word “consume” means “exhausted”. While the richest exaggerate consumption, the poorest suffer the consequences of close environmental imbalance. Over the past 30 years, global consumption of goods grew at an annual average of 2.3%; in some East Asian countries this rate exceeds the threshold of 6%. It is the culture of consumerism that becomes present, urging us to consume more and more. For that we produce more and more.
Leonardo Boff in “Care Required” records this passage: “This production process requires more and more exploitation of the resources of nature. As a result, the more you exploit the more scarce natural resources become, it produces more pollution, more deforestation occurs, the more you poison the soil, contaminating water longer, more degenerate ecosystems and increasingly global warming increases with the resulting climate change” (BOFF 2012 , p . 74).
On one hand, consumption grows excessively and the waste of all natural resources, on the other, makes the patterns of social inequality shoot up, making the way of living of the poor and needy more and more chronic.
This is an imbalance caused by a few who dominate the scene of world consumption. Stephen Pacala , an ecologist at Princeton University, points out that the 500 million richest people in the world (approximately 7 % of the world population) are currently responsible for 50 % of global emissions of carbon dioxide, while the poorest 3 billion are responsible for only 6%.
It is the practice of consuming that “triggers” in an unprecedented way. Worldwide, per year, over 70 million vehicles consume. The consumption of humanity in goods and services in 1960 amounted to the equivalent of U.S. $4.9 trillion (2008 dollars); in 1996 it reached U.S. $ 23.9 trillion and, ten years later, reached over $ 30 trillion.
In France , the mean protein intake is 115 grams/day, while in Mozambique it is only 32 grams. Every citizen of the United States, on average, consumes 120 pounds of meat per year (10 pounds per month), while an Angolan consumes 24 pounds/year (2 pounds/month). The 315 million in the U.S. (2012 data) eat 9 billion birds each year. In the whole of Asia, with 3.5 billion people, they consume up to 16 billion birds per year.
There are 150 cars for every thousand inhabitants in China, while in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) this ratio is 750, and in India, only 35. Eighty- two percent of India’s population, 65% of Indonesia’s population, 55% of Chinese and 17% of Brazilians earn less than $2/day, according to the study Sustainable Consumption: A Global Status Report, produced by United Nations Environment Programme (2002).
Spending on cosmetics per year in the U.S. alone, reaches the amount of U.S. $ 8 billion. Europe spends on cigarettes, also by year, over $50 billion and $105 billion is spent on alcoholic beverages. Expenditures on armaments and military equipment in the world revolve, annually, around $780 billion, while only $9 billion would be enough to bring water and sanitation to the world’s population.
As consumption grows to meet only a privileged few, the environment degrades greatly as more economic growth (more production to meet this wasteful consumption) accounts for the depletion (the origin of the term “fatigue”) of energy and natural predation and the whole ecosystem services resources. It is time to understand that everything is limited to the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to withstand the pressures arising from economic growth.
13 Comments on "Excessive consumption"
Dave Thompson on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 12:53 am
We all know this, but who here in the US is to be the first to give up the toys and useless consumer goods, that are destroying the planets biosphere?
Yeti on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 1:09 am
Well, at least Russia is concerned about the environment and fairness vis-à-vis resource allocation.
Ha, a ha ha, a ha ha ha. That’s rich, oligarch rich.
Thank the lord they at least have a free media. A ha, a ha ha ha, shit here it goes again.
Makati1 on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 1:24 am
Yeti, maybe Russia is serious. After all, they have twice the land area of the US and less than half the population. Seems they are in a much better position to survive the coming ecological, food, water and energy crunch.
The US propaganda mill is obvious in the comments of some on here. All US news articles should start with: “… Once upon a time…”
The latest bad boy was once the USSR.
Then:
Cuba
North Korea
Vietnam
Iraq
Afghanistan
Libya
Iran
Syria
and now back to Russia.
I doubt that many Americans could locate them on a map if they were not marked.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 10:14 am
A Russian PPI report. Nothing said about China??? What about Asia as a whole whose middle class is exploding. “OR” how about the exaggeration of the US consumption which is going down and currently at 30% I might add at parity with China. We use 16% of world energy that is not our own. BTW Russia is 2nd to the US in per-capita energy use. We are again at the question of overshoot of a population. A question that involves quantity and degree. The US is an excessive consumer. This will not last because the system driving this consumption is not sustainable on all fronts. We have debt, limits to growth, an unstable financial system, and huge wealth transfer. The US consumption is falling with a declining population minus immigration. The other big factor is the part of the population doing the heavy consuming which is the 2MIL high net worth individuals. There are 6% of the US population with 30% of the income. These are the folks you have to target and by extension throughout the world. The US population is becoming a have and have not population. We see 30% of the population near the poverty line. We know they are not consuming much. Another 30% are barely middle class who’s consumption is being continually pressured. The US over consumes definitely but the number give a picture of a few doing the consuming. The other side of the question is a ballooning world population centered with the 3rd world. Here we have the quantity. If we look at ethics then it is not fair a few consume and the vast majority in these countries don’t. Yet, objectively looking at overshoot and ecosystem degradation then quantity is bad and very bad when part of this segment’s consumption is rising. A financial and economic correction will bring to an end the excessive consumption by the rich worldwide within 5 to 10 years maximum. It is yet to be seen when nature will cull the total human population in overshoot. When one singles out the US like this Russian political propagandist ideologue report it distorts the reality of the issues. The human population in overshoot to carrying capacity issue is complex and the reasons are many.
Makati1 on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 12:59 pm
Davy, if you subtract the energy used by foreign countries to make exports that the US no longer makes at home, and add it on to the Us’ energy use, you get an energy use per capita that is about twice that of Russia. The US 4.3% uses at least 1/3 of the world’s resources.
It is the only country where obesity is the leading cause of deaths from related diseases and system failures.
And putting tags on people only means you cannot refute their assertions with real facts.
And, the poorest person in the Us is still a king compared to the poor in 3rd world countries. I cannot feel sorry for them. Let them try to live on $2 per day. THEN I would believe they are in pain.
Davey on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 1:14 pm
Maki, it works both ways sir, US is a major exporter so “flush”. Maki and his obiesity card again. This is a global phenomenon anywhere there is a growing middle class. Of course your PPI tendencies choose to point fingers and label. Maki the King tagger you should know all about assertion and facts that correspond to your propagandist bend. Please Maki spare me the tears about what is poor and what is not. Maki, Poor is poor wealth is realative. Many so called poor globally have wealth of location or social structures. Many US poor are suffering greatly. You have been away from the US too long and reading too much antiamerican hate liturgies!
Arthur on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 1:47 pm
Russia has the least concerns about environmental issues on a global scale. Solar panels or wind turbines in Russia? Forget it. And if the Russians got the chance, they would be the most unashamed nouveau riche consumers of them all. But they won’t get the chance. We are going to look a lot more like them, rather than that they are going to look like us (although some mathematical minds could have issues with this formulation).
Northwest Resident on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 5:09 pm
Bacteria in a petri dish eat as much as they can, as fast as they can eat it too.
In that regard, there isn’t a lot of difference between humans and bacteria.
The humans that are not consuming more than their fair share are the ones wishing that they could. And they would, if only they got the chance.
By twist of historical fate and by virtue of some superior attributes, The West has become the dominant bacteria in the petri dish, pushing all other bacteria aside as it chows down in a glutonous pigfest, while all those bacteria that have been pushed to the side scramble to survive and look longingly and with dark brooding thoughts on the larger bacteria eating their fill.
It doesn’t matter. There isn’t much left in the petri dish to consume anymore. We ate it all up. If The West hadn’t consumed it at a greater rate than average, then somebody else would have. That is what bacteria — and humans — do.
Hopefully, any humans who survive this century will have learned their lesson and stop emulating baterial behavior.
Boat on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 7:17 pm
So what are the numbers for Russian flaring nat gas per person vrs. the US?
noobtube on Fri, 4th Apr 2014 7:35 pm
Why is it the criminal, the coward, the loser always claim that just because they got caught, defeated, or lost, that EVEYRONE would have just because they did.
Native people lived in the Western Hemisphere for centuries (eons?) without European meddling.
Africans lived for thousands of years without the European invasion.
Yet, somehow, because Europeans left their natural habitat, and basically set the world on a path to destruction, everyone else in the world is supposed to be blamed for their stupidity.
Europeans are the bacteria. Why are they always so eager to take all the credit but then want to share (or place) the blame? Maybe that is another characteristic of bacteria.
I personally think Europeans and Americans are going to wipe themselves right off this planet.
Makati1 on Sat, 5th Apr 2014 1:40 am
@noobtube, I agree. Some on here think I am crazy to see the plus side to non-western living. They seem to believe that their narrow view is the only one. Too bad. They have the farthest to fall and it is beginning to become obvious that fall, they will, even to them.
Arthur on Sat, 5th Apr 2014 10:04 am
Europeans are the bacteria. Why are they always so eager to take all the credit but then want to share (or place) the blame? Maybe that is another characteristic of bacteria.
One is puzzled why all these thousands of noble savages are so keen to seek shelter with the ‘bacteria’, that they risk their lives and try to cross the Mediterranean at great personal risk.
Maybe foaming dr. Huxtable here is overplaying his hand.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1713275,00.html
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 5th Apr 2014 12:24 pm
ART SAID – One is puzzled why all these thousands of noble savages are so keen to seek shelter with the Bacteria
MAKI SAID – @noobtube, I agree. Some on here think I am crazy to see the plus side to non-western living. They seem to believe that their narrow view is the only one. Too bad. They have the farthest to fall and it is beginning to become obvious that fall, they will, even to them.
You are crazy Maki/noobie with the lust of hate of the US and other western countries. This blinds you to reality. You talk a lot about non-western living like there is another living now besides global Bau??? Even the poor of the 3rd world are dependent on the global AG distribution system and consumer products. You can bet the poor that live bellow your high rise condo near Manila Maki don’t make the spoons they use to eat there rice. Those spoons are cheap plastic Chinese junk. Noobie do you think that Human nature is particular to westerners?? No Noobie human nature means that these natives from Africa to the Western Hemisphere would have eventually developed in a similar manner. The Native Americans are a case in point. They immediately adopted the horse and later all the metal and manufactured products the Europeans brought. The same is true for the Africans. If Europe would have died out for whatever reason these peoples would have eventually in the right environment adopted technology and followed a similar European path of development and economy. Noobie and Maki you all believe in fairytales of the noble savages who would have lived on in sustainability and harmony with nature. If these people could have remained technologically repressed and physically unable to adapt past subsistence agriculture and hunter gathering then they may have remained more in harmony with nature. That is a big if and even so somewhere in this large planet another society would have adapted development and economy and spread it like the Europeans did.
Art makes a great point for Noobie and Maki, why are so many of the people in the Maki/Noobie noble savage 3rd world beating down the doors to get into any western country they can. You know why boys because they know there is more relative security and safety there. Ask all the rich Chinese why they are sending their money and families to Canada, London, and the US? You know why Maki because they know firsthand how ugly it will be in China when the SHTF. Maki your poster girl China is a ticking world time bomb that may be the 1st to shake the global system to its core. China is your neighbor so you should be worried.