---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 08:09:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Doug Hunt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: socdev list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [socdev] UNDP: Poor pay dearly for rich throw-away societies apologies for x-postings > > 11:24 AM ET 09/08/98 > > Poor pay dearly for rich throw-away societies: UN > > (Repeating to delete duplicate in original paragraph nine) > Release at 6 a.m. EDT Wednesday > By Evelyn Leopold > UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) - A child born in the United > States, France or Britain this year will consume, waste and > pollute more in a lifetime than 50 children in developing > nations, according to a U.N. report released on Wednesday. > But those left out of the consumer society -- some one > billion people in the world -- bear the brunt of environmental > damage because they tend to burn traditional fuels, use leaded > gasoline or live near factories and garbage dumps, according to > the 1998 edition of the Human Development report. > Surveying necessary as well as conspicuous consumption by > wealthy nations, the report from the U.N. Development Program > (UNDP) does not believe the world can arrive at an equitable > distribution of goods. But it advocates a world that is less > unbalanced. > Global consumption of goods and services will top $24 > trillion this year, six times more than in 1975 with people > consuming more food, energy, communication and entertainment > than ever before. They are also living longer and have better > access to health care and education. > ``But not everyone has been invited to the party,'' UNDP > administrator James Gustave Speth told reporters. ``Expectations > have gone global but the affluence has not gone global.'' > Expectations, the report says, have shifted from ``keeping up > with the Joneses'' next door to pursuing life-styles of the rich > and famous and buying brand name luxury goods depicted in movies > and television shows viewed throughout the world as well as in > aggressive global advertising. > The report warns that when social aspirations rise faster > than incomes, consumption patterns become unbalanced and can > crowd out such essentials as ``food, education, health care, > child care and saving for a secure future.'' > Twenty percent of the world's people in high income countries > consume 86 percent of the world's goods, 45 percent of all meat > and fish, 74 percent of all telephone lines and 84 percent of > all paper. Per capita carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels > are 21 metric tons a year in the United States compared with > three metric tons in China. > Poor nations need to increase consumption because current > levels are too low for most people to afford even the basic > goods, the report says. > ``The need is not so much for more consumption or for less, > but for a different pattern of consumption,'' Speth said. > ``We will pay later and dearly in migration, in the > environment, in other problems. There is no way that even the > richest country can build walls,'' he said. > The report also debunks some myths, saying that subsidies for > energy, water and other natural resources usually benefit rich > not poor people and therefore contribute to waste. > Developing countries should not imitate industrialized > nations in all respects but seek to avoid mistakes and adopt > environmentally safe technology. > As in previous years, the report measures human wealth and > poverty in terms of life expectancy access to public health and > education rather than just economic growth. > Some regions, including South Asia and sub-Sahara Africa > rank low on the scale regardless of which measurement is used > while countries like Brunei, Kuwait or Qatar lag because of > neglect of social services despite relatively high incomes. > Canada, France, Norway and the United States lead the human > development index of 174 countries as they did last year. > The report in part builds on the theories of economist John > Kenneth Galbraith. In his 1958 book ``The Affluent Society,'' he > argued that in rich countries, like the United States, the rate > of social development has been uneven -- abundantly available > privately produced goods without comparable public services in > health care, education, housing or food for the needy. > In a short essay contributed to the report, Galbraith said he > would now emphasize disparities between affluent and poor > nations. But he said the problem was not solely economics. > ``There is a common tendency to ignore the poor or to develop > some rationalization for the good fortune of the fortunate,'' he > said. > ^REUTERS@ > ___________________________________________________________ Doug Hunt, UCC/NEER Chair, US NGO Caucus for UN Comm. on Sust. Dev. & Organizer US Network for Sustainable Development Financing p: 301-593-4724 f:301-593-7591 e:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
