I've had some thoughts running about in my head for a bit, and thought that I would pass them on. Perhaps it isn't strictly on-topic, but it illustrates how small changes in a population's lifestyle can have major implications on a global scale.
One thing that I have noticed is that in the USA and in Northern Europe the norm is to clean ones butt with toilet paper. In the Middle East, Africa, India, and I believe in China, the norm is to wash with water as needed. Probably the healthiest of the two methods is to wash. Now, consider that there are over a billion Indians and over a billion Chinese. I can't begin to fathom the implications that at a rate of say one roll of toilet tissue per person per week, what would happen if these two billion people started using toilet tissue. The logistics of meeting the requirement of providing two billion additional rolls of toilet tissue per week and its impact on sewage treatment, paper production, trees for paper, energy use, etc., are mind boggling. Also, how much better it would be for all of these reasons if the paper users of the world were converted to washers! Maybe one person's use or nonuse of something like toilet paper doesn't make a lot of difference, but when it is multiplied out by the entire population, what a huge difference. To bring this more on-topic, consider the implications if the fleet mileage of the vehicles used in the USA, for example, were raised by just a few miles per gallon, multiplied by the millions of vehicles in use -- well, it would have a similar huge impact on total oil consumption. Derek W. Hargis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
