"The MAJOR VISION and BEST EXAMPLE of THE GOOD LIFE in the WORLD is the image of the group known asTHE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS. LIVING LIKE THE "AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS" IS THE GOAL OF MANY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.
For most AMERICANS, living at a higher standard than the "AVERAGE AMERICAN" is their main goal in life. Many people in the world wish to live like an "AMERICAN" in the style exemplified by the AMERICAN CULTURE OF "HIGH CONSUMPTION OF THE EARTH'S RESOURCES".
THE WORLD'S PREMIER ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM is: The Way the AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS LIVES .
INCREASING INSATIABLE CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES is the main LIFE-STYLE BEHAVIOR of the American Middle Class. .
City dwellers are very disconnected from their resource consumption. Many people are not aware that resource consumption supports their lifestyle.People in the city are very detached from direct connections to resources..
FOR AMERICANS AND MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THE CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES BY THE AMERICAN TYPE CONSUMPTIVE LIFE STYLE IS NOT EVEN VIEWED AS A PROBLEM!
Insatiable growing Resources Consumption is altering and destroying the BIOLOGICAL LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS OF EARTH.
Usually, POPULATION GROWTH is seen as THE CAUSE of THE EARTH'S ecological life support system decline.
"INCREASING GROWTH BY HIGH CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES, is however ALWAYS SEEN AS GOOD " by the main stream AMERICAN CULTURE.
The earth's age has been established by many reliable sources as being about 5 billion years old. During this time a large number of Earth's Life Support Systems including Biological, Microbiological, Ecological, Geological, Atmospheric, Hydrological and others were all left UNDISTURBED BY HUMANS.
NON DISTURBANCE OF THE EARTH'S LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS FROM HUMANS ALLOWED A SURPLUS TO BUILD UP. This surplus includes: oxygen, clear clean water, fertile soil, stable vegetation, various stable ecosystems, communities and populations of micro organisms and fauna. The Gaia Hypothesis asserts that this surplus plays a part in stablizing Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere.
The plates of the earth's land mass have been relatively "stable" for only about the last few hundred thousand years according to current Geological Plate Tectonic theory.This has allowed a relatively short period of a few hundred thousand years of stable weather. This stability has allowed a surplus of resources to build up without effects of humans!
Humans have been on the Earth in large numbers for only the last 200 years. (See population references)
The economic system called Capitalism was invented in the 18th century (about 200 years ago in 1760), AT A TIME WHEN THE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM SURPLUS WAS LARGE AND UNDISTURBED AND AT A TIME WHEN THE HUMAN POPULATION WAS VERY SMALL.
Capitalism assumes resources are unlimited. This assumption has only recently been challenged by the large Human population growth and the success of the American resource consumption economy.
Any economic system depends on Natural Resources and the LIfe Support System. Any action against Natural Resources and the Life Support Systems will destroy the economy,humans and all other living forms on earth as well.
After World War II the only functional economy was in America. There were no countries able to affect the world with resource consumption at this time. America's CONSUMER'S had free access to plunder the Earth's Resources with the buildup of the waste mentality. MANY AMERICANS ARE NOT AWARE OF THIS AND MANY OLDER AMERICANS ARE OBLIVIOUS TO THIS FACT.
MANY AMERICANS YOUNG AND OLD ACT AS IF THE EARTH'S RESOURCES ARE THEIRS TO USE AND ARE OBLIVIOUS TO THEIR ABUSE WHEN THEY LIVE THEIR CONSUMER LIFE STYLE.
The American Military Machine is used to maintain the present world order of governments for the benefit of the elite upper class AND TO MAINTAIN THE CONSUMER LIFE STYLE . An excellent overview supporting this idea can be found in ATLANTIC MONTHLY JUNE 1996: WHY AMERICA THINKS IT HAS TO RUN THE WORLD by Benjamin Schwarz.
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PRODUCING ECONOMIC GROWTH BY INCREASING CONSUMPTION is the primary national economic policy in AMERICA. Some believe cutting taxes will increase economic growth.The Increased Economic GROWTH Policy is viewed as necessary and worthwhile by most.
NATURAL RESOURCES SUPPORT ECONOMIC SYSTEMS AND ARE THE BASIS OF ANY ECONOMY AND HUMANS ARE DISCONNECTED FROM THESE RESOURCES! Many of these resources form the structure of the BIOLOGICAL LIFE SUPPORT ON EARTH.
MANY CITY DWELLING HUMANS ARE DISCONNECTED FROM AND NOT AWARE OF THE FACT THAT: HUMANS ARE OXYGEN, WATER, AND SOIL DEPENDENT ORGANISMS.
In the last 2 decades, the CONSUMPTION LEVEL of WORLD RESOURCES by AMERICANS has reached the highest achieved by any civilization in human history. The AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS practices the highest level of a new form of human behavior: "INCREASED RESOURCE CONSUMPTION."
INCREASED MONETARY INCOME BY INCREASING CONSUMPTION OF WORLD RESOURCES is the PRIMARY LIFE GOAL for Americans and a growing number of other people in the world.
Capitalism is the leading economic system in the world. Capitalism assumes unlimited resources and emphasizes increased resource consumption to produce increased economic growth.
Life support system resource have limits. The capacity of the biosphere to accept greenhouse gases is limited. The oxygen producing capacity of Earth may be limited. The speed by which drinkable water can be produced may be limited. Various types of vegetation require different times to grow. Trees and forest especially take centuries to form. The capitalist economic view assumes unlimited resources at equal speeds.
The emphasis on "THE HIGH CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES" LIFE STYLE was invented and promoted in the United States. The CAPITALIST spirit of CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES is summarized by the following: "Americas enormously productive economy demands that consumption must become a way of life. Increasing economic growth demands that SHOPPING, BUYING, USE AND THE THROWING AWAY of goods be converted into rituals. Resource users seek spiritual satisfaction and ego satisfaction in consumption. Many need to go to the shopping center to reinforce our sense of worth. The more we have the better and more "valuable" we are. The dream that many pursue of getting bigger homes in the "best" neighborhoods, more luxurious cars, dining in the best restaurant, getting "the best education", getting the most up to date computer, etc. ALL INVOLVE HIGH CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES.
HUMANS ARE DISCONNECTED FROM RESOURCE USE AND NOT AWARE OF INCREASING CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES.
"America is the leader of the industrial countries and the industrial countries are the home to the HIGH CONSUMERS of the world. The industrial CONSUMER COUNTRIES with only 23% of the earth's people CONSUMES 40 to 86% of the earth's various natural resources."
" From the crust of the earth Capitalism's CONSUMERS take: minerals and energy; from the forest: timber, and oxygen, from the farms: soil, grain, fruits, vegetables, and meat; from the oceans: fish; from the rivers, lakes, and aquifers: fresh water. The average resident of an industrial country consumes three times as much fresh water,10 times as much energy, and 19 times as much aluminum and copper as someone in a developing country. The impact of AMERICAN consumption reaches into THE EARTH LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS AROUND THE WORLD. Our appetite for wood for cardboard and paper, for minerals, and for the sale of commodities such as soybeans to feed cattle motivates the road builders who open tropical rain forests to poor settlers. This road building resulting in the slash-and-burn forest clearing that is condemning countless species and native peoples to extinction."
"High consumption makes huge impacts on the EARTH'S ENVIRONMENTS. Industrial countries burn quantities of fuel to create electricity for computers, and to run cars, and release over three fourths of the sulfur and nitrogen oxide gases that cause acid rain. Industrial Factories generate most of the world's hazardous waste,(Some of which make computers!). CONSUMERS Military facilities have built more than 99% of the world's nuclear warheads and with Atomic Power Plants have generated more than 96% of the world's radioactive waste. CONSUMERS air conditioners, aerosol sprays, and electronic parts factories release almost 90% of the chlorine compounds and chloroflurocarbons that destroy the Earth's ozone layer.
The furnishings of our consumer life-style--with things like computers, automobiles, throwaway goods and packaging, the high-fat diet, shopping centers,luxurious homes, condominiums with air conditioning--ARE provided at great environmental cost. Our way of life depends on enormous and continuous inputs of the very commodities that are most damaging to the earth to produce: energy, chemicals, metals and paper. In the United States, those four industries are all in the top five of separate industry-by-industry rankings for energy intensity and toxic emissions and similarly dominate the most wanted list for polluting the air with sulfur and nitrogen oxides, particulates, and volatile organic compounds.
From global warming, to acid rain, to species extinction, WE AMERICAN CONSUMERS BEAR THE ULTIMATE MAJOR BURDEN OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DAMAGE TO THE EARTH'S LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM.
THE PROBLEM OUR CONSUMPTION DOES NOT RECEIVE ATTENTION.PEOPLE ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THEIR CONSUMPTIVE BEHAVIOR. WHEN THEY DO, PEOPLE USUALLY FOCUS ON OTHER CONTRIBUTORS TO ENVIRONMENTAL DECLINE.
CONSUMPTION IS THE NEGLECTED VARIABLE IN THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL EQUATION.
OXYGEN,WATER, SOIL AND BIOLOGY SYSTEMS OF EARTH ARE DEGRADED BY INCREASING CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES TO GROW THE AMERICAN ECONOMY.
An economy's impact on the life support systems on Earth depends on 3 variables:
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Many believe continued population growth is foremost among the factors aggravating critical environmental problems such as air and water pollution, deforestation, wildlife extinction, and climate change. Population pressures exacerbate acute social problems such as poverty, hunger, homelessness, crime, and teen pregnancy. Family planning advocates attempt to slow population growth. The impacts of rapid population growth and wasteful consumption are address with excellent links inZERO POPULATION GROWTH
Planned Parenthood links world population and women's issues.
Sources about population issues with referenced real statistics are:
THE
CENTER FOR WOMEN'S GLOBAL LEADERSHIP seeks to develop an
understanding of the ways in which gender affects the exercise of power (OVER RESOURCES AND PEOPLE) and the conduct of public policy (OVER WOMEN) internationally.
WORLD ABORTION POLICIES has references on the abortion issue through out the world.
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Many Environmentalist work on regulating and changing technologies.
The Environmental Protection Agency maintains an extensive number of files on various Environmental topics, SEE: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY FTP SITE
An order form to get a reference document for the drinking water treatment operators, technical assistance providers, the state and local drinking water officials and the general public on commonly used drinking water terms to enhance their understanding of program issues SEE:
An extensive description on where lead contamination can occur and on how to deal with lead contamination in the home, SEE:EPA LEAD EXPOSURE
There are approximately 250,000 kinds of flowering plants on earth today. It is estimated that some 60,000 of those may become extinct by the year 2050. More than 19,000 kinds of plants are considered threatened or endangered all over the world. Plants are essential to all human and animal life. Green plants are the only living things on our planet which can combine the energy of the sun with water and carbon dioxide to produce food to sustain themselves and animals, including humans. The United States is home to between 18,000 and 22,000 different kinds of plants. An excellent web document on plants is: ENDANGERED AND THREATENED PLANTS AT THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN.
An outstanding detailed analysis on the problem oil companies are creating by promoting Fossil Fuel Dependence and Global Warming can be reviewed in THE HEAT IS ON:THE WARMING OF THE WORLD'S CLIMATE SPARKS A BLAZE OF DENIAL; DECEMBER 1995 HARPER'S
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The decline of the EARTH'S LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM'S requires progress on population growth, regulating and changing technology, as well as STOPPING CONSUMPTION OF EARTH'S RESOURCES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH."
REDUCTION OF CONSUMPTION AND REDUCTION OF MATERIAL WANTS HAS NOT BEEN ADDRESSED!. Stopping the rates of global pollution, ecological degradation, and habitat destruction NOT JUST REDUCING THOSE RATES FOR CAPITALISM'S ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION is necessary. Technological change and population stabilization alone CAN NOT save the EARTH'S life support systems of EARTH.
REDUCTION OF MATERIAL WANTS AND REDUCTION OF CONSUMPTION MUST BE ALSO BE DONE NOW !
" HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more stop adding to human satisfaction?
Is it possible for all the world's people to live comfortably without bringing on the decline of the planet's life support systems?
Is there a level of living above poverty and subsistence but below the CONSUMER LIFE-STYLE -A LEVEL OF SUFFICIENCY?
Could all the world's people live like THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CONSUMER?. Could all the world's people have heated swimming pools? refrigerators? cloths dryers? automobiles? air conditioning? airplanes? second homes? Asking these questions must be done.
Some "MAY" see that more is not always better. Our Consumer Life Style and Consumption Appetites are overwhelming any efforts to forestall ecological Life Support decline. Most are BLIND to the forces around us that stimulate those appetites, such as relentless advertising, proliferating shopping centers, and social pressures to "keep up with the others".
CONSUMERS do NOT consider the forces that fuel consumption are more destructive than they need to be. Many consumers are disconnected from resource consumption. Subsidies and tax breaks to mining, paper mills, grazing on public lands, chemical manufacturing and other industries with high environmental impacts must be stopped. These mainstream industries of the AMERICAN CULTURE were invented in the 1800's, at a time of abundant resources. Abundant resources no longer exist. Political leaders and the Majority of Americans do not recognize this. Many Americans persist in attempts to regenerate the way resources were 100 years ago. Growing the economy with tax reductions can not be done without abundant resources. The economy depends on Natural Resources. Many of the ideas in this essay are supported by 11 articles on "SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES" in the: "ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS 1995". support . Three articles found in this review with specific points that support this article are:
Transforming the BLIND CONSUMER MENTALITY and STOPPING INCREASED ABUSE OF THE EARTH'S LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR MONETARY GAIN WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE.
Parts of this essay includes additions and adaptations of links to the article: "The Conundrum of Consumption" by Alan Thein Durning a chapter adapted from the book: HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? The Consumer Society and the Fate of the Earth:W.W.Norton & Company, 1992. For information on HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? SEE: NORTHWEST ENVIRONMENTAL WATCH The article "The Conundrum of Consumption" can also be found in the book: BEYOND THE NUMBERS, a reader on population, consumption and the environment, edited by Laurie Ann Mazur, (1994) SEE: "REFERENCES".
EXCELLENT examples from this file are:
Each year Worldwatch Institute publishes an updated book on THE STATE OF THE WORLD. Each book has extensive chapters about current critical topics on environmental issues throughout the world.
Check out an overview of: STATE OF THE WORLD 1995
Short 1 and 2 page descriptions of key topics can be found in VITAL SIGNS 1995. For a brief overview SEE: VITAL SIGNS 1995
A new Worldwatch Paper, Imperiled Waters, Impoverished Future: The Decline of Freshwater Ecosystems, demonstrates that giant dams, massive irrigation systems, and widespread logging often bring few economic benefits, and instead cause environmental degradation, poverty, and suffering, as well as irreplaceable loss of bio-diversity. Worldwatch Paper on River and Wetland Development
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Links on Philosophical Issues related to the Environment can be found in: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
This Info Seek Index contains important ENVIRONMENTAL TOPICS:
EARTH FIRST JOURNALis about Earth First! and the radical environmental movement. The Earth First! Journal is published eight times a year on pagan holidays. The Earth First! Journal regularly includes information and updates on international campaigns; news and announcements about EARTH FIRST! and other radical environmental groups; reviews and critiques about the environmental movement and book reviews of interest to radical ecologists.
Earth First Journal has news, essays and on going discussions on a variety of innovative topics such as: ecodefense of EARTH environments AND can also be access by:
Solstice Index links sites about Environment Issues.
EcoWeb, EcoWatch, and Environlink contain links about Earth's Environment and Earth's Life Support Systems Issues.
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CONSUMERS IMPACT THE EARTH in a variety of ways. Examples of impacts that MANY COMPUTER CONSUMERS ARE NOT AWARE of can be seen in the following:
The extraction of resources to make computers, the production of energy used to run computers, the advertisement and selling of computers, the disposal of outdated or non functional computers are all IMPACTS COMPUTER CONSUMERS ARE DISCONNECTED FROM !.
"Computer production is not a clean industry. Assembly facilities for the computer and the electronics industry use a large number of toxic or environmentally hazardous substances, many of which escape and contaminate the work space. These hazardous chemicals often escape to contaminate the land and groundwater. The most startling contradiction of the notion that computer manufacturing is a "clean" industry is to be found in Santa Clara County, California. The county underwent a transformation in the 1970's, becoming the birthplace and center of the booming computer industry, and becoming known as the Silicon Valley. Not so well known is that the Silicon Valley contains the largest concentration of hazardous-waste cleanup sites in the United States. Much of the groundwater is now contaminated with tricholoroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane--both chemicals linked to serious health problems. These chemicals and a variety of other chemicals are used to manufacture and clean electronic components. At least 150 sites in the area are now being examined or monitored by state, federal or local authorities; 23 of them are now on the EPA's Superfund list of the nations's most hazardous toxic dumps."
Little attention was paid to environmental consequences of the computer industry until 1982, when a leak of toxic solvents from an underground tank was shown to be contaminating local groundwater and a public water supply well. The ensuing publicity lead to the discovery of similar problems at scores of other locations in the area. Millions of dollars have been spent in attempts to clean up some sites, but with only limited success. Some of the chemicals, such as TCE, are virtually impossible to remove completely once they have settled into an aquifer. At some sites, contamination is still uncontrolled and spreading.
Since 1979, government and public interest groups have suspected that ethylene glycol ethers--solvents commonly used in chip making--could cause reproductive health problems. In late 1992, two studies, by IBM and the Semiconductor Industry Association, identified glycolethers as the cause of high rates of worker miscarriages.Epidemiological studies and a variety of informal reports suggest that water pollution from electronics firms may be causing more widespread health problems as well.A 1985 California Department of Health Services study revealed that nearby residents exposed to water contaminated by the Fairchild Semiconductor plant leak were suffering from two to three times as many miscarriages and birth defects as the general population.
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More than half a century after the discovery of antibiotics, infectious diseases are on the rise--with the most dangerous diseases now carried by some 2 billion people. The increased world population is an effective giant petrie dish breeding antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. In the coming years, the epidemics are only likely to get worse--unless public health agencies address this growing silent threat. This concern is addressed by Anne Platt in: World Watch Magazine July/Aug 1995 Volume 8, Number 4, Page 26.
"THE COMING PLAGUE: NEWLY EMERGING DISEASES IN A WORLD OUT OF BALANCE" by Laurie Garrett, is an extensively documented large book about this threat.
Requests for a description and references about antibiotic resistance can be sent by using: CRITICAL COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS
For Current Emerging Diseases in the World see: CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL
For weekly updates on diseases:CDC MORBIDITY & MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT
For updates on diseases when traveling to other countries see: CDC TRAVEL
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THE ECONET GOPHERis a primary means for EcoNet members to report news and information about their projects and campaigns. The EcoNet Gopher is also an Internet browser on environmental issues. EcoNet is a member network of the Institute for Global Communications (IGC). These Gopher menus cover a variety of environmental issues, and are maintained by EcoNet and IGC.Two items of interest among many on this service are:
Information on a large variety of ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS APPEARS IN: ORGANIZATIONS ON ECONET
For information about N. G. O.' S = NON GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONSa small sample of thousands of organizations that are members of PeaceNet, EcoNet, ConflictNet and LaborNet.
THE SIERRA CLUB is a non-profit member-supported, public interest organization that promotes conservation of the natural environment by influencing public policy decisions--legislative, administrative, legal, and electoral.
GREENPEACE INTERNATIONALis an independent, campaigning organization which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.The goal of GREENPEACE is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.
GREENPEACE WEB Links current hot international environmental topics.
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HUMAN IMPACT ON THE EARTH by William B.Meyer is a book that describes the changes human activities have produced in the global environment from 300 years ago to the present day. It offers a comprehensive inventory, ranging from long-standing alterations to new ones that have emerged in recent years.
See the book review on "Population and Environment-The Third Revolution" by Paul Harrison:
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REFERENCES
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HOPE IS A GOOD IDEA. MAYBE THE BEST IDEA. A GOOD IDEA NEVER DIES!
Please email any critical comments or ANY HOPEFUL GOOD SUGGESTIONS to knedder@nextlab.calstatela.edu.us.
This page was created by Karl Neddermeyer
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