By 2000, 5 million cars moved people and goods the number is expected to reach 24 million by the end of next year. For years, the streets of China's major cities were characterized by a virtual sea of people on bicycles, and 25 years ago there were barely any private cars in China.
But what is causing this change? And how does the rising temperature affect the environment, and our lives?Ĭhina provides a snapshot of changing realities. Items that at one point in time were considered luxuries-televisions, cell phones, computers, air conditioning-are now viewed as necessities.
Globalization is a driving factor in making goods and services previously out of reach in developing countries much more available. "As just one small example, there was a story in the newspaper just the other day saying that 37 percent of species could become extinct due to climate change, which is very directly related to consumption." From Luxuries to Necessities "Most of the environmental issues we see today can be linked to consumption," said Gary Gardner, director of research for Worldwatch. The report addresses the devastating toll on the Earth's water supplies, natural resources, and ecosystems exacted by a plethora of disposable cameras, plastic garbage bags, and other cheaply made goods with built in product-obsolescence, and cheaply made manufactured goods that lead to a "throw away" mentality. "But as we enter a new century, this unprecedented consumer appetite is undermining the natural systems we all depend on, and making it even harder for the world's poor to meet their basic needs." "Rising consumption has helped meet basic needs and create jobs," Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute said in a statement to the press. Today nearly half of global consumers reside in developing countries, including 240 million in China and 120 million in India-markets with the most potential for expansion. Perfectly timed after the excesses of the holiday season, the report put out by the Washington, D.C.-based research organization focuses this year on consumerism run amuck.Īpproximately 1.7 billion people worldwide now belong to the "consumer class"-the group of people characterized by diets of highly processed food, desire for bigger houses, more and bigger cars, higher levels of debt, and lifestyles devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods. But now developing countries are catching up rapidly, to the detriment of the environment, health, and happiness, according to the Worldwatch Institute in its annual report, State of the World 2004. Americans and Western Europeans have had a lock on unsustainable over- consumption for decades.
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