Has human consumption really reached unsustainable levels? Is it ok that less than one fifth of the world's people consume more than two thirds of the planet's resources? “With less than 5 percent of global population, the United States accounts for about one fourth of global consumption.” (1) On October 21, 2004, articles sped all over the world discussing the report released that day attacking humans for “pillaging the planet.” “In its regular Living Planet Report, the World Wide Fund for Nature said humans currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the earth can produce.”(1)

But wait. If this type of consumption is happening now, when only 5 percent of the world’s population is stuffing themselves like pigs, than what will happen when the rest of the world, or let’s just say another 2 billion people decide they can start doing the same? According to the Earth Policy Institute, China already beats the US in the consumption of televisions, refrigerators and mobile phones, but earlier this year, China also overtook the US as the “world's largest consumer of grain, meat, coal and steel.”(2) With a population exceeding 1.6 billion people and growing, this doesn’t seem to be helping our situation at all.

Just like Canadians have been blaming US consumption for the destruction and loss of their beloved forests in the Canadian Boreal, which are loosing five acres of forest every minute,(4) so are they Indonesians, who are suffering from the fastest rate of deforestation in the world. The BBC reports “Chinese factories process one stolen Indonesian log every minute of every working day.”(3)

Ok, so if you are anything like me, you are probably unhappy about this information and want to know what you can do, if anything, about it. Well, lucky for both of us, the Sierra Club (1) has put together this very nice, short, and concise list of a few things that we can all do to reduce our consumption. I hope you’ll join me in trying these out, and please consider emailing this article to a friend:

1. Try to buy local, organic food, rather than processed, packaged and imported goods
2. Find more energy- efficient ways to travel (i.e. biking, walking, mass transit)
3. Use more energy- efficient appliances and light bulbs
4. Move your thermostat 3 degrees warmer or cooler and save on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted.

1. Sierra Club: Population and Consumption
2. MSNBC: Humans pillaging planet, group claims
3. BBC: China emerges as global consumer
4. New Report Implicates U.S. Consumption in the Decimation of The Largest Forest in North America – The Canadian Boreal