KLP, I should have used the term "consumption," as noted below in Scientific American, instead of "energy" in order to better illustrate my point.
"...For every person in the world to reach present U.S. levels of consumption with existing technology would require four more planet Earths...."
scientificamerican.com
Estimates regarding America's percentage of use of world energy resources vary from a conservative 28 percent to in excess of 50 percent.--environmentalists likely hold the higher percentage, and I know I've seen the 70 percent figure somewhere (couldn't locate it in my search, however).
And when you factor in Canada, which is very much like America, we see an imbalance to an even greater and certainly more severe degree. Think about ginger ale: In Canada they sell it as America Dry; in America they sell it as Canada Dry. What's the difference? Nature and place of the beast, guess. As an aside, international tobacco sales are interesting to look at also; but we won't get into that.
Anyway, moving on to what America takes and what America gives.
"...Japan with half the economy of the US is a bigger contributor of overseas development assistance, then the US, which spends about $9 billion per year. This is only 0.1% of the U.S.’s GNP, putting the U.S. in last place in foreign aid per GNP compared to Japan, Western Europe, and Canada...."
geocities.com
OK, so the above gives us a glimpse as to how the U.S. compares with the rest of the world. Does America give? Or does it take? Next, let's consider how the wealth inside of America is proportioned. Here we find yet another startingling indifference. For example, in the chart below we discover that 72 percent of America's wealth is controled by 10 percent of its population and that, in 1995, one percent controlled 40 percent of America's wealth.
ac.wwu.edu
And howz about this! Forty percent of Americans die and leave no assets to their children and grandchildren.
prospect.org
All in all, KLP, I think you get my point. That America with so few, takes so much; that the richest folks within our nation, who also are so few; take too much. Bottom line? There's a hell of a lot of keep goin' on, all of which leads me to believe that poverty is a kept condition. Has America's foreign policy raped over Third World nations? You bet! Do the richest Americans still attempt to eeck out tax benefits at the expense of the poorer ones? You bet!
I don't know a sports fan anywhere in the world who'd think this is a fair game. Do you?
Anyway, here's some more interesting reading from a variety of sources. Thank you for your question.
"...The access to fossil energy removed the limitation on the density at which exosomatic energy can be utilized, and societies experienced a dramatic increase in the rate of energy consumption. The exo/endo energy ratio has jumped from about 4 to 1, a value typical of solar powered societies, to more than 40 to I in developed countries (in the U.S. it is more than 90 to 1). Clearly, this brought about a dramatic change in the role of the endosomatic energy flow. Endosomatic energy, that is food and human labor, no longer delivers power for direct economic processes. Humans generate the flow of infonnation needed to direct huge flows of exosomatic power produced by machines and powered primarily by fossil energy. To provide an example of the advantage achieved: a small gasoline engine will convert 20% of the energy input of one gallon of fuel into power. That is, the 38,000 kcal in one gallon of gasoline can be transformed into 8.8 KWh, which is about 3 weeks of human work equivalent. (Human work output in agriculture = 0.1 HP, or 0.074 KW, times 120 hours.)...."
"...The total consumption in the U.S. is 77 quads of energy. This is almost three times the 28 quads of solar energy harvested as crop and forest products, and about 40 percent more energy than the total amount of solar energy captured each year by all U.S. plant biomass.17 Per capita use of fossil energy in North America (expressed as conventional fossil fuel equivalent) is about 7,000 liters of oil per year or 5 times the world average level!...."
npg.org
"...The average individual [in the United States] daily consumption of water is 159 gallons, while more than half the world's population lives on 25 gallons...."
pbs.org
members.aol.com
core.ecu.edu
pbs.org
geocities.com
geocities.com
www.greenpeace.org/~climate/climatecountdown/documents/bushrealitycheck.pdf |
