Consumption in America and Its Effects On the Environment

     Consumption is becoming a rising issue for the world. The use of resources globally is taking serious effects on the planet. Lower developed get the brute of this consumption downfall as they are unable to compete with the more wealthy nations.

     Before getting into the negative effects of consumption or how americans horribly over consume, it is important to know first what consumption is. Its important to be careful when making references to the term consumption as it has various meanings, some not related to the other at all. For example, one form of consumption refers to the nickname gave to Tubercluosis because it seemed to consume people from within. The type of consumption centered here is the use of final goods until disposal. These types include food consumption, such as natural edible resources and energy consumption, like oil. 

     At the top of the energy consumption chain are well-developed countries that can withstand their amount of over consumption. Americans, for example, make up a miniscule five percent of the world's population but consume twenty-four percent of the worlds energy. That is almost a quarter of the world's energy being used up by five hundredths of the world's population. It is estimated on average that one american uses as much energy as two Japanese, six Mexicans, and thirteen Chinese people.

     Energy is not the only overly consumed product by Americans. Americans also eat eight hundred fifteen billion calories of food each day. That's roughly two hundred billion more than needed and enough to feed eighty million people. It is no wonder why America continues to rise in obesity rates compared to other well developed countries. Still food that is not eaten at the dinner table is not always wrapped up and saved for leftovers the next day. Americans throw out two hundred thousand tons of edible food daily. As a matter of fact, obesity in America is beginning to rival the number of people suffering from hunger in the world. This is disturbing considering that 250 million people, roughly 10 million each year, have died of hunger-related causes in the past quarter-century. Seven hundred to eight hundred million people, perhaps even as many as a billion, don't get enough food to support normal daily activities.

      As another form of consumption, humans use mass amounts of energy on a daily basis. Humans depend on the environment to sustain healthy life but yet damage the environment in many ways. Consumption is one of the ways that humans degrade the environment. Water is one major resource found in the environment that humans exploit. The average American consumes 159 gallons of water daily, while more than half the world's population lives on 25 gallons. In total, the consumption of the average U.S. citizen requires eighteen tons of natural resources per person per year and generates an even higher volume of wastes (including household, industrial, mining, and agricultural wastes). Some of these wastes are released to the atmosphere, rivers, and oceans; others are in landfills or incinerated. Unfortunately, only a small proportion of our natural resources are recycled. Trends show that the more developed countries have the most negative impact on the environment. Americans, for example, account for seventy-two percent of all hazardous waste produced in the world.

     Although they react with the ecosystem in a different manner, chemicals take a toll on the environment also. Chemicals used to help keep away bugs and rodents hurt the environment. Products to cultivate land also have negative effects on the environment. Statistics show that only 0.1% of pesticides actually reach the pest it was intended to infect. The remainder of the chemical poisons the ecosystem. That is 99.9% of the chemicals used to kill rodents and other insects which damage crops, rather destroy the equilibrium of the environment and mutate the very insects they are meant to kill. This never ending cycle creates an immunity to the rodents and they become able to withstand the pesticides. 

     Consumption around the world is necessary to keep humans alive and healthy. However the overuse of natural resources and manmade resources globally will eventually bring crisis. In order to stop the global consumption problem, humans must change their habits.

Work Cited

"Pesticide Issues on Clean Water Action Council." Clean Water Action Council - CWAC. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://www.cwac.net/pesticides/index.html>.

"Tuberculosis." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis#Other_names>.

"Consumption by the United States: Americans Constitute 5% of the World'spopulation but Consume 24% of the World's Energy." Mindfully.org | Mindfully Green. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

<http://www.mindfully.org/Sustainability/Americans-Consume-24percent.htm>.

"Consumption and Consumerism â Global Issues." Global Issues : Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All â Global Issues. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism>.