Re: Overpopulation is the problem -- not oil

Glenn Morton remarked:

> I will push back a bit on this self-flagellation. Having lived 3 years
> in Europe I heard lots of complaints about how profligate the US was in
> terms of energy use. And many there do share your opinion that the
> world would be better off without US. Sure we use lots of oil, but we
> have less of an environmental impact than does Europe (who rather
> hypocritically point the finger our way), Arabia, India and China. In
> Nature, 2 weeks ago was an article which calculated the percentage of
> net primary productivity used by humans. Most of the US is in the
> 20-30% range. Most of Europe 45-120% range, Arabia, India and China are
> largely in the 60-200% range. That means that the locals are using far
> more of the natural resources than the natural resources can sustain.
> Thus, it is not just the US and it is not just our problem and doing
> away with the US will not solve the over use of natural resources by
> large parts of the world. We are all in this together and we have all
> caused the problem together.
>

Along the same lines, if for example, you walk by a shopping
mall here in Tokyo, there is a huge whisk of cool air coming
out the doors of those shops. Customers in Japan expect
comfort, and that means you keep those air conditioners running
at full power (further heating up the air around you!) if you
want to stay in business. The problem is somewhat ameliorated
by the density of the population. The same space is used
far more effectively than typically seen in the US. Then again,
packing so many air conditioners together only futher heats up the
air in a local area, future encouraging the use of thereof.... Moreover,
summers in Japan would be unbearably hard without at least some
level of comfort. I hate to think what places like Hong Kong or
Taiwan would be like this time of year. Right now, I am writing
this in a room without any air conditioner running and sweat is
just pouring down my chest.

Homes (particularly older ones), are very poorly insulated. I
hate to think what the old shops with poor insulation use up.
Energy is not cheap in Japan either.

In China, the energy waste by transportation may be less than
the US, but only because there is less vehicles. The
ones on the road can sometimes be obnoxious fume belchers.
Regulations, if there are any at all, are pretty lax at best.
Again, the concept of insulation, excluding possibly very
new buildings, is almost non-existent. With 1.3 billion
people, that would lead to enormous waste.

But in any case, even if everyone conserved, we might
stave off disaster for another 10 or 20 years. So we have a
problem, and it is everyone's problem.

by Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne
Received on Fri Jul 9 22:16:30 2004