Population and Consumption - Global Population and Environment

Ever-accelerating human consumption of natural resources lies at the root of many of our global environmental problems. Current consumption patterns stress limited natural resources, contribute to global warming, and create wasteful and even toxic byproducts that affect the quality of life and the health of communities around the world. Add global population growth to the mix, and it becomes increasingly clear how the health of the ecosystems we depend on for survival are being compromised.

Rapid population growth coupled with high levels of consumption and irresponsible corporate decision making, have also created a number of social and political tensions around the world. The unsustainable consumption of water, fossil fuels, and other natural resources places unnecessary stress on developing countries and jeopardizes the health of poor and marginalized people.

In various countries, communities are subjected to environmental damage and local economic tension from oil drilling that feeds the fossil fuel appetite of the U.S and other industrialized nations.

Read about the story of Ken Saro Wiwa and the plight of the Agone people against Shell Oil at http://www.sierraclub.org/human-rights/nigeria

"Today's consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities. And the dynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are accelerating. If the trends continue without change - not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs - today's problems of consumption and human development will worsen."

-Human Development Report 1998 Overview, United Nations Development Programme

Fact: Only one fifth of the world's people live in industrialized countries, yet they consume more than two thirds of the planet's resources. With less than 5 percent of global population, the United States accounts for about one fourth of global consumption. Did you know that a child born in an industrialized country will consume and pollute more over his or her lifetime than thirty to fifty children born in developing countries?

In a world that is increasingly impacted by the effects of globalization, consumption and waste production patterns in the U.S. are far-reaching, affecting environmental and human health locally and globally. Our unsustainable practices, whether it be water use, deforestation, or greenhouse gas emissions, impact many of our world neighbors.

On a local level we can see how our daily consumer decisions impact the air or water quality of the city or state in which we live. Yet, it's much harder to conceive of how our purchasing or driving decisions affect the rest of the world. Every person determines the size of his or her local ecological footprint when choosing to recycle and reduce the amount of waste produced. Making the decision to purchase locally grown food, thus reducing the amount of fossil fuels required to package and ship the food, limits the amount of CO2 emissions produced that pollute the air we all breathe and the atmosphere we all share.

Mouse over any of the pictures below to learn how each are linked to our consumption patterns.

Biodiversity/Habitat Loss:

Check out this map to find out about endangered species in the U.S.

Check out Breathing Earth, a visual simulation of the CO2 emission rates as they relate to population. http://www.breathingearth.net/

As consumers in a nation full of choices, we have an opportunity to invest in a more sustainable future, rather than perpetuate consumption patterns that exacerbate the destruction of the environment and the social inequalities around the world. The purchases we make directly impact the global environment. We have the power to influence a more sustainable use of the world's resources and ensure a more equitable distribution among the world's citizens.

If we do want to create a more sustainable world, we must work to reduce our overall consumption of natural resources, shift our consumption toward green goods produced by sustainable businesses using clean, efficient technology and promote efforts to slow population growth.

Corporations from all over the world also have a responsibility to conserve our global natural resources and protect the health of communities. However, it's the consumer's responsibility to make sure companies are maintaining strong environmental and health standards through exercising our buying power! "Corporate accountability" is the idea that companies should be responsible for all of their actions and products, including the health and environmental problems associated with the corporate decisions they make. By supporting companies that are both open and responsible about their actions, each one of us can positively impact the effects industry has on the environment and on our global neighbors.