Hyperconsumption - A Non-Green Element

By Andy Balasis

Sometimes it becomes really difficult for us to figure out the amount of things we consume from our nature. Hyper-consumption is in fact one of the root causes of all our environmental problems. We as humans simply try and buy a lot of things. We even buy what we may not need or what we don't ever want. The fact is we waste so much of our money buying things that are not necessary for us.

Almost half of the world lives on less than $2 a day. America is one of the leading countries for hyper-consuming things. Nearly 60% of private consumption spending is done in America. In America every dozen inhabitants certainly does have one car. In a population of 6 billion people nearly 500 million cars are present. Americans consume nearly two thirds of all the grains harvested in the world.

An average American consumes around 222 pounds of meat products in his average life. Global oil production is certainly falling. We are responsible for using most of the oil resources of the world. With 500 million cars on the road, it is hard to imagine the consumption of oil on a daily basis. Production has simply dropped to 39 million barrels per day from 88 million barrels per day. Our population is increasing at drastic levels, and so are our needs. In satisfying our needs we have simply started consuming most of our resources in a much faster way. We have in fact accelerated the process of ending our natural resources.

Our consumption have simply increased the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to around 20%. We simply burn all the fuel to produce electricity, run our cars and other things. Most of the industrialized nations consume around 87% of the worlds printing and writing. We have certainly increased the global production of our printing and writing paper to nearly 87%. We know that paper is used almost everywhere from packing to writing and wrapping. Paper industries are some of the largest consumers of natural pulp and resources. A large amount of energy is required in making paper.

Millions of tons of fossil fuels are simply burnt down every single day. Some of these industries are also the largest greenhouse gas emitters including the chemical and steel industries. Americans buy 53 times more products than anyone in the world. One American consumes resources that may be equivalent to nearly 35 Indians. They simply create 15 times more damage to our environment as compared to others. An average American consumes around 575 liters of water per day per person. Water is an important resource. Consuming more fresh water means leaving less water for future generations.

This is really frightening. Its time we start thinking if it is really necessary to shop today. Do we need to consume things at the same rate as we are doing today? We try to label ourselves as environmental friendly people, but we need to ask ourselves that are we really environmental friendly people?

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