Fossil fuels, food, timber, minerals, and other natural resources are all a necessity for everyday life, however, these goods can be taken advantage of and pushed into the topic of overconsumption of natural resources. Overconsumption of these resources are often overlooked because it is not considered as severe as other environmental problems. “If we fail to address these two issues together, (overconsumption and overpopulation) we face a grim future of economic, social and environmental ills, warns a new report prepared by a group of scientists.” (Population, Consumption and the Future) Our lack of knowledge on the situation could be affecting us more than we know. We rely and depend on these resources that we take for granted and just expect
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The average individual “uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day” (How Much Water Does The Average Person Use At Home Per Day?) and in 2015 the average family’s “annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,812 kilowatthours (kWh), an average of 901 kWh per month.” (How Much Electricity Does an American Home Use?) Urban and rural areas use their resources differently though: Urban families as a whole spend at least $30 billion more for energy each year than rural family’s, but, each individual urban family actually spends about $200-$400 less. “Most Americans live in urban areas, form huge hot spots of energy consumption. But while rural residents use less energy overall, cities are often slicker about it.” (Urban or Rural: Which is More Energy Efficient?) However, the majority of the overconsumption does still comes from urban areas. “The United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world 's fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world 's natural gas.” (The State of Consumption) With the amount of resources brought into America, and the amount we as Americans consume, there will never be enough of those resources evenly distributed throughout our country.
With the rate of overconsumption of natural resources …show more content…
“People in rich countries consume up to 10 times more natural resources than those in the poorest countries. Humans today extract and use around 50% more natural resources than only 30 years ago, at about 60 billion tonnes of raw materials a year. Resource extraction is very unevenly distributed across the world. How many natural resources are extracted on a continent depends on several factors: the size of the continent, the availability of resources, the size of the population as well as the level of affluence. An average North American consumes around 90 kg per day.” (Overconsumption? Our Use of the World’s Natural Resources) The locations that have more of these resources generally have larger houses, eat more meat and drive bigger cars. These differences in lifestyle increase resource consumption.
Although I agree that the overconsumption in big cities of natural resources is extreme, I can see where the amount of natural resources we receive is necessary because of the amount of people we have in those large cities. Also, it would be a hassle to have a fundamental shift in the global economy. Movements and lifestyle choices to stop overconsumption include: green economics, downshifting, minimalism and much more, but the majority of people are probably not familiar with these movements, therefore, they cannot be applied in everyday
The average individual “uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day” (How Much Water Does The Average Person Use At Home Per Day?) and in 2015 the average family’s “annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,812 kilowatthours (kWh), an average of 901 kWh per month.” (How Much Electricity Does an American Home Use?) Urban and rural areas use their resources differently though: Urban families as a whole spend at least $30 billion more for energy each year than rural family’s, but, each individual urban family actually spends about $200-$400 less. “Most Americans live in urban areas, form huge hot spots of energy consumption. But while rural residents use less energy overall, cities are often slicker about it.” (Urban or Rural: Which is More Energy Efficient?) However, the majority of the overconsumption does still comes from urban areas. “The United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world 's fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world 's natural gas.” (The State of Consumption) With the amount of resources brought into America, and the amount we as Americans consume, there will never be enough of those resources evenly distributed throughout our country.
With the rate of overconsumption of natural resources …show more content…
“People in rich countries consume up to 10 times more natural resources than those in the poorest countries. Humans today extract and use around 50% more natural resources than only 30 years ago, at about 60 billion tonnes of raw materials a year. Resource extraction is very unevenly distributed across the world. How many natural resources are extracted on a continent depends on several factors: the size of the continent, the availability of resources, the size of the population as well as the level of affluence. An average North American consumes around 90 kg per day.” (Overconsumption? Our Use of the World’s Natural Resources) The locations that have more of these resources generally have larger houses, eat more meat and drive bigger cars. These differences in lifestyle increase resource consumption.
Although I agree that the overconsumption in big cities of natural resources is extreme, I can see where the amount of natural resources we receive is necessary because of the amount of people we have in those large cities. Also, it would be a hassle to have a fundamental shift in the global economy. Movements and lifestyle choices to stop overconsumption include: green economics, downshifting, minimalism and much more, but the majority of people are probably not familiar with these movements, therefore, they cannot be applied in everyday