Steve Kurtz wrote: > This is a very common mis-perception: > > > Japan has too many people on too little > > land with no natural resources. America has fewer people and almost > > unlimited natural resources. > > It is claimed by scientists that US is the most overpopulated country > due to highest per capita consumption of goods & services.
Let's not mix up population density with behavior. The population density in the US is very low (8-15 times lower) compared to Japan and W.Europe. It's the behavior (consumption/squandering) that is the problem. Note that I say behavior, not lifestyle -- W.Europe has equal or better lifestyle quality than USA but significantly lower consumption/emissions. Perhaps that's due to historical selection -- those who were able to do with little input stayed in Europe, whereas squanderers emigrated to USA where they could squander the resources at will. Now that the planet's finiteness has become sadly obvious, the US should finally learn to behave economically and "get more out of less". But instead, the US is waging resource wars and exporting the squandering lifestyle to the world, in order to satisfy their doctrine of unlimited growth. The most economic car on the world market (VW Lupo with 80 mpg) is not even for sale in USA (it wouldn't "sell" there), while Americans are driving around in 12-20 mpg SUVs and complain that "more research is needed"... or even that more wars, oil drilling (ANWR) and roads are needed! (Not that a 80 mpg would be necessary for a good lifestyle, anyway... I never used a car and get around by bike and trains really well.) My point is that while population reduction is part of the solution, changing behavior is more important and could be achieved much faster. Greetings, Chris
