We’d Need Five Earths if Everyone Lived Like Americans, How Do Other Nations Stack Up?

The planet is quickly hurtling towards a climate catastrophe, and drastic action needs to be taken if we want to prevent the impending damage that can occur. In spite of the fact that this is the case, many nations around the world seem to be doing the opposite of what they are supposed to do. For example, if every member of the human race lived like Americans do, we’d need five whole planets to facilitate that rate of resource consumption.

The US is not the worst offender in this list, with citizens of nations like Qatar and Bahrain using up to nine times more resources than the planet can sustain. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that neither of those nations are nearly as large as the US. With a population of well over 350 million people, the US is perhaps the single biggest contributor to climate change both on a macro level as well as on an individual level.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, there are many countries that are using approximately their fair share of resources such as Indonesia. If everyone lived like Indonesians, we’d only need 10% more resources than the Earth can provide. India performs even better, since despite its rapid industrialization the rising superpower uses 20% less resources than it would ideally be allotted.

Additionally, while China often gets cited as the biggest contributor to excessive resource consumption and carbon output, its per capita footprint is less than half of that of the US. China’s resource consumption rate would require 2.4 Earths if it occurred on a global scale, whereas the US has a per capita resource consumption that would require 5.1 planets if everyone lived that way.

This nation of 350 million people is consuming about as many resources as 1.8 billion should, which surpasses the populations of both China as well as India with all things having been considered and taken into account. Any changes need to come from America first.

H/T: Overshootday

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World