[North-NV-Greens] HUMANS CONSUME MORE THAN EARTH CAN PRODUCE

[Paul Etxeberri]

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.smdailyjournal.org/article.cfm?issue=10-22-04&storyID=35944

GENEVA -- Humanity's reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, 
the destruction of natural habitats for farmland and 
over-exploitation of the oceans are destroying Earth's ability to 
sustain life, the environmental group WWF warned in a new report 
Thursday.

The biggest consumers of nonrenewable natural resources are the 
United Arab Emirates, the United States, Kuwait, Australia and 
Sweden, who leave the biggest "ecological footprint," the World 
Wildlife Fund said in its regular Living Planet Report.

Humans currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the 
Earth can produce, the report said.

"We are spending nature's capital faster than it can regenerate," 
said WWF chief Claude Martin, releasing the 40-page study. "We are 
running up an ecological debt which we won't be able to pay off 
unless governments restore the balance between our consumption of 
natural resources and the Earth's ability to renew them."

But Fred Smith, president of the Washington-based Competitive 
Enterprise Institute and a former official of the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency during the Nixon and Ford administrations, said he 
was skeptical. In a telephone interview, Smith said the WWF view is 
"static" and fails to take into account the benefits many people get 
from resource use.

Use of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil increased by almost 700 
percent between 1961 and 2001, the study said.

Burning fossil fuels -- in power plants and automobiles, for example 
-- releases carbon dioxide, which experts say contributes to global 
warming. The planet is unable to keep pace and absorb the emissions, 
WWF said.

Populations of land, freshwater and marine species fell on average by 
40 percent between 1970 and 2000. The report cited urbanization, 
forest clearance, pollution, overfishing and the introduction by 
humans of nonnative animals, such as cats and rats, which often drive 
out indigenous species.

"The question is how the world's entire population can live with the 
resources of one planet," said Jonathan Loh, one of the report's 
authors.

The study, WWF's fifth since 1998, examined the "ecological 
footprint" of the planet's entire population.

Most of a person's footprint is caused by the space needed to absorb 
the waste from energy consumption, including carbon dioxide. WWF also 
measured the total area of cities, roads and other infrastructure and 
the space required to produce food and fiber -- for clothing, for 
example.

"We don't just live on local resources," so the footprint is not 
confined to the country where consumers live, said Mathis 
Wackernagel, head of the Global Footprint Network, which includes WWF.

For example, Western demand for Asia's palm oil and South America's 
soybeans has wrecked natural habitats in those regions, so the 
destruction is considered part of the footprint of importing nations. 
The same applies to Arab oil consumed in the United States.

The findings are similar to those in WWF's 2002 report, which covered 
the period up to 1999. But the latest study contains more detailed 
data stretching to 2001. It shows the situation has changed little in 
most countries and is now more worrying in fast-growing China and 
India.

The world's 6.1 billion people leave a collective footprint of 33.36 
billion acres, 5.44 acres per person. To allow the Earth to 
regenerate, the average should be no more than 4.45 acres, said WWF.

The impact of an average North American is double that of a European, 
but seven times that of the average Asian or African.

Residents of the United Arab Emirates, who use air conditioning 
extensively, leave a 24.46-acre footprint, two-thirds caused by 
fossil fuel use. The average U.S. resident leaves a 23.47-acre 
footprint, also largely from fuel.

Swedes leave a 17.3-acre footprint, but most is caused by land use 
and the impact on other countries of its imports of food and 
clothing. Like its Nordic neighbors, the country has won praise from 
campaigners for cutting fossil fuel use.

The study also warned of increasing pressure on the planet's 
resources amid spiraling consumption in Asia.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been a frequent critic of 
what it calls "environmental alarmism" from organizations like WWF. 
Smith said the footprint idea is wrongheaded.

"It's sort of like saying, 'General Motors must be much more wasteful 
than the local laundromat because General Motors spends more 
resources.' Yes, but they are producing more product, too," he told 
the AP.

Loh said governments, businesses and consumers should switch to 
energy-efficient technology, such as solar power.

(c) 2004 San Mateo Daily Journal

-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand