“Growth”

07 Jan 2006

Apparently, the world is screwed if China and India keep growing at their current rate, by projections that dare to compare their standard of living/consumption to that of the US.

News, apparently, but all it really means is that we’re (a safe enough contraction, in light of the fact that if you’re reading this, you’re part of the fifth of the world’s population that has access to a computer/the Internet) overconsuming. And they’re not. And if they do, too — that is, leave the ranks of the sustainers/impoverished populations of the world — then there won’t be enough resources left.

Wow, clever. I’m pretty sure I agree with the researcher’s idea(s) entirely, but the way the article is written it’s like… damn those emerging nations for coming out of poverty, etc. It reads as ridiculously parochial (in a global “Western” parochial kind of way. Maybe stretching the definition somewhat.), but maybe that’s just me being cynical. Yes, I see IT/sustainable resource usage as not being mutually exclusive. I’m not being completely hypocrictical on this one… though I have to admit, air conditioning was amazingly welcome on New Years’ day, irrespective of power usage (Australians, incidentally, use the second highest volume of electricity per-capita in the world, coming in only after the US).

Ultimately climate change doesn’t mean that much. As in, it’ll all level out when it gets too hot for us to continue producing goods using carbon-based products. Sure, lots of people will die, but it’ll all be stable eventually. Cue eye-rolling. We know it does mean lots, certainly for our generation and the next several. Current efforts (in which a 3% reduction in emissions is seen as mind-boggling) strike me as being way too little, too late.

The solution? No idea. Ideas such as an vehicle emissions tax could work, along with substantialish marketing budgets (hey, this is Government we’re talking about here… if they put in substantial money to start with, at least something should trickle out the other end) to try and change attitudes… but the biggest problems are industry and power generation. And 3% sounds suspiciously close to nothing.