1 / 8

Can we all live this way?

Can we all live this way?. Population and Consumption: Feast and Famine, Equity and Ecology. Ecological literacy & exponential growth. Population growth DCs: from 2% to 1.4% (1975-2015) ICs: from . 6% to .3% (1975-2015) World: 1.6% to 1.1 % UN projects 8-10 billion by 2050

joann
Download Presentation

Can we all live this way?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Can we all live this way? Population and Consumption: Feast and Famine, Equity and Ecology

  2. Ecological literacy & exponential growth • Population growth • DCs: from 2% to 1.4% (1975-2015) • ICs: from . 6% to .3% (1975-2015) • World: 1.6% to 1.1 % • UN projects 8-10 billion by 2050 • Consumption • Growing twice rate as fast as population • Directly correlated with energy use

  3. Global class analysis • Global rich (1/5 world population) • Control 90% of world's wealth • Emit 85% of world's greenhouse gases • Global poor (1/5 world population) • World wealth & greenhouse gases: 2% • Global middle class (60% of population) World wealth & greenhouse gases: 10% • Trends?

  4. Food: economic and ecological connections • 1 billion people chronically undernourished • 40,000 people, mostly children, die daily • Affluent countries: obesity a chronic problem • 1 can of diet soda: 2400 cals. to produce for 1 cal. of nutrition • Same energy could produce 7000 cals. of food • Q: Source of the surplus energy ?

  5. The food-energy connection • Fossil-fuel based global food web • Fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, machines • Transportation • U.S.: the agricultural hegemon • 40% of all wheat exports; 50% corn; #1 rice exporter • States subsidize crops central to their citizens' diets: What does U.S. subsidize?

  6. Environmental effects of meat • Cattle outnumber humans 3:1 • Average American consumes over 2 kg/wk (India = 2 kg/year) • Environmental consequences • Waste in rivers & groundwater • Tropical deforestation • Desertification from • Methane: 80 million tons/year • Water for a typical American's meat = daily home water use

  7. Water Facts • “Basic daily need:” 30-50 liters • Africans: 37 liters • U.S.: 420 liters • 5% of world population, 15% of world’s water • 1.1 billion lack safe drinking water • Water use grew twice as fast as pop. in 20th C. • Bottled water: over $100 billion in 2005 • $10 billion/year needed to meet U.N. goal of cutting number of people in half by 2015 • 1.5 million barrels oil > 2.7 million tons of plastic for bottled water

  8. Development & the Global Food Web • Shift from food self-sufficiency to dependency • Export-led growth: cash crops, not food for people • DCs: coffee, sugar, cotton • Heavily dependent on petrochemicals • Ex: Chocolate (transparency) • Monocultures and declining biodiversity

More Related