Jared Diamond recently had an op-ed piece in the New York Times that struck a chord with me:
TO mathematicians, 32 is an interesting number: it’s 2 raised to the fifth power, 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2. To economists, 32 is even more special, because it measures the difference in lifestyles between the first world and the developing world. The average rates at which people consume resources like oil and metals, and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, are about 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world. That factor of 32 has big consequences
….
If the whole developing world were suddenly to catch up, world rates would increase elevenfold. It would be as if the world population ballooned to 72 billion people (retaining present consumption rates). Some optimists claim that we could support a world with nine billion people. But I haven’t met anyone crazy enough to claim that we could support 72 billion. Yet we often promise developing countries that if they will only adopt good policies — for example, institute honest government and a free-market economy — they, too, will be able to enjoy a first-world lifestyle. This promise is impossible, a cruel hoax: we are having difficulty supporting a first-world lifestyle even now for only one billion people…
What’s your Consumption Factor? (New York Times, January 2 2008)
I live in Northern California where environmental sustainability is a big in-your-face issue and work at a company that has a Green Energy czar so I am no stranger to green lifestyle advocacy. However, reading Diamond’s op-ed reminded me that “oh my god, I consume 32 times more than my fellow human being on the other side of the planet.” I am embarrassed to be consuming so much more and producing so much more waste. Being green and living an environmentally-conscious life is all the rage these days. Past the carbon offsetting and Priuses though, is the idea of just living your life more thoughtfully, less excessively. Conspicuous consumption just screams “because I can!” and I hate that.
The truth may be that no matter how hard as I try, I may never be able to cut my consumption down to something that is not still a huge disparity with the rest of the world. Still, I think it’s worth trying to live my life as responsibly as possible. 32 times is just too much.
