NumberS
Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially.
U.S. population to top 300 million this month
This will make the United States No. 3 in population in the world, after China and India.
According to some studies:
Each American occupies 20 percent more developed land — housing, schools, shopping and roads — than 20 years ago.– Each American uses three times as much water as the world average; over half the original wetlands in the United States have been lost, mainly due to urban and suburban development and agriculture.
– Half the continental United States can no longer support its original vegetation; nearly 1,000 plant and animal species are listed by the U.S. government as endangered or threatened, with 85 percent of those due to habitat loss or alteration.
– The United States consumes nearly 25 percent of the world’s energy, though it has only 5 percent of the world’s population, and has the highest per capita oil consumption worldwide.
– Each American produces about 5 pounds (2.3 kilogram) of trash a day, up from about 3 pounds (1.4 kilogram) in 1960; the current rate is about five times that in developing countries.
So the question becomes then.
Is this good news or bad?
Please feel free to Discuss amongst yerselves. 
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For the truth about Guantanamo see: RightTruth, See BlogBat for some truth about the ACLU. PlancksConstant has the latest on conversion., StiKnstein has the latest on ahem..global warming.,MiddleClassGuy on immigration., DefiantInfidel has a very moving piece.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:23 am
There’s something to be said against all of those individually-wrapped items which permeate the store shelves these days. Our grandparents ate strawberries and hard candy that came in a jar. :p
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:15 am
Interesting post. We need to make some changes I think. Be better stewards of our gifts here in this land of the fee and home of the brave.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:59 am
I got your trackback and am trying to send send you one. TypePad is having hissy fits again this morning.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:02 am
We could all do more to conserve, not only for the environment, but because it is shameful to be wasteful.
However, I don’t need ALGORE forcing me with legislation!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:02 pm
In all our consuming and wasting and hogging of space, in all this that we do, we feed more hungry of the world, we produce more food for the starving billions than all the nations that waste nothing, that consume nothing, that hog up no space.
A Supermarket takes up more space, uses more energy, throws off more garbage than a thrifty, tiny little bodega. But the Supermarket expends more because it serves more people, provides more services, feeds more people, employs more people, and on and on.
I do not worry about what America burns or uses up because without America burning its huge, gigantic candle, the world would be sitting in darkness, hungry and cold.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Excellent points, Bernie.
My question is, is the 300 million population with or without the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens?
I personally have no problem with what I consume and the rate at which I consume it.
Martin also makes an interesting point. Whithout all the governmental health oriented packaging requirements how much would our waste be?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:47 pm
– The United States consumes nearly 25 percent of the world’s energy, though it has only 5 percent of the world’s population..
We may only have five percent of the population, but what is the percentage of production output? Businesses and manufacturing account for higher proportions of energy usage than consumers.
Our real concern should be the correlation of usage versus waste of resources.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:04 pm
old soldier…Unfortunately I doubt too many illegal aliens answered any census questions.
Hispanics have already replaced blacks as the largest minority. If you were to include illegals, I’m sure Hispanics would make up much more than the 14.1% that the Census Bureau lists.
Blacks make up approximately 12.8% and non-Hispanic whites make up 67.4%.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Also.. I find interesting that China, the world’s most populous country, has approximately the same size geographically of Continental United States.
Our 300 million pales in comparison to China’s 1.3billion.
Europe has over 725 million people in 47 countries.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:22 pm
I don’t know whether it’s good or bad, LMC. I suppose it depends on whether or not the majority of the population will be liberals, conservatives or illigal aliens. LOL! Forgive me… I couldn’t pass it up!
But Martin is right about all those individually wrapped packages. I had to use a pair of scissors to cut the plastic off of a new pair of scissors that they were packaged in. What if I had bought new scissors because I didn’t have any scissors? Guess I would have had to use a knife. All that plastic has to go somewhere, and I don’t believe it’s biodegradable either. They used to use paper bags in stores, now it’s all plastic. It’s a plastic world!
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:24 pm
My apologies, Angel. It’s Walt’s fault… he interrupted me three times while I was in here and I forgot who’s blog I was on. It’s not the first time I’ve done that. Sorreeeeeeee!
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:55 pm
I guess it all depends on how much you trust stats. I mean, look at the “fat epidemic”, where anectdotal evidence replaces true studies and everyone starts freaking out about it. Fact is, the feds changed the definition of obese so that more people would classified as obese. This then created a “problem” that would lead to more government control, of course. Big surprise there! I don’t give a rat’s rump about stats. I know that I individually act as a good steward and that’s all that counts.
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Way to go, Angel! Look at these comments! You’ve actually got a block of probably some of the most conservative commenters on the net collectively sounding like a bunch of Greenies! HA!
And yet you are all indisputably correct. Contrary to the left’s constant criticisms of us …the rich, uncaring, powerful and wasteful …these statements demonstrate our awareness. Martin’s point is excellent and we sure could make a huge dent in our trash output by deep sixing the single serving, quadruple plastic wraps. And this is one Conservative who does recycle!
Another provocative Angel post on the roster.
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I didn’t get your trackback, but my trackbacks have been acting funky from time to time of late. I get double from some, none from others, and perpetual ones from still others. Of course, our grandparents’ generation didn’t have this challenge either - but I’m not sure what their equivalent to the blog might be. Maybe just small town chatter at the barn-raising.
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Thanks y’all for the great comments..wow ..nice thread! lol
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Great post, Angel! I agree completely with Bernie. Without the U.S., the world would be a very dark place - and our wastes are no comparison to what we produce for the world.
Still, we recycle at our house, of course!
Can’t hurt to ride the ol’ bike every now and again, too!
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:50 pm
This will be a great campaign ad for the pro-choice crowd. But I say one way to solve this problem is to send California to the Canadians. Lets face it: What’s the difference?
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:00 pm
I am convinced that advancing populations create our most serious problems, whether social or ecological. While many European countries have a negative growth rate, the US is increasing in leaps and bounds. Much of this has to do with illegal immigration — and lacking any sensible programs to deal with the problem (you know, ignore it long enough and it’ll go away), the US government has given up it’s right to manage human immigration. Some people actually think they have a RIGHT to come to the US, and if the current population just shrugs their shoulders as if it’s “someone else’s problem, then Americans could be in serious trouble in another 100 years. Thank you for an excellent post, Angel.
Semper Fi
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:21 pm
I agree - give California to Canada and spite Mexico
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:00 pm
“Each American produces about 5 pounds of trash a day … the current rate is about five times that in developing countries.”
We’re number one! Go team!
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Yawn.
I’ve been hearing stuff like that for 50 years.
You know what has happend? People got richer.
And when I was a kid, we heard all about poor people in Asia, you know, the ones who now sell us all our shoes and shirts at Walmart?
Yes, I agree don’t waste.
But a lot of “trash” is keeping us safe…we throw out bad food, we wrap things to keep out vermin so it lasts longer, and we drive SUV’s 30 miles to Walmart instead of taking the horse and cart to the local country store.
All that stuff about Americans using “more” stuff than poor countries ignore how lousy life is in poor countries.
Here in the Philippines, things are improving (THANK GOD FOR AIR CONDITIONING..electricity…and running water….heck, this year we just got DSL…WHEEE…) but we still wash our clothes by hand and have to shop everyday at the market since we only have one small fridge. A couple months ago, we even got a mall and a local McDonalds’ in o
I see the improvements of modern wastefulness every day, and thank the Lord for the improvement. You see, I only know the Philippines from visiting for twenty years, but thirty years ago, I was a missionary in Africa, and there the people were so poor that nothing was wasted, but believe me you really don’t want to romanticize their lives.
Housewives had to carry water 1 mile in the dry season until we got a grant for water pumps and well material. And even then, most people got their corn ground at a store rather than grind it by hand (looks romantic, but you try it…day after day after day).
So my answer to “American waste five times as much as people in poor countires” is: Well, let’s make them richer and then they’ll waste more, and Americans will waste only twice as much as poor countries.
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:49 pm
The United States consumes a lot, thus generating a lot of trash. But the United States contributes so much too.
I’m pretty sure that I don’t generate that much trash. Then again, I cook in volume and don’t buy many “goodies” nor fast food.
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Thanks again alls for the insightful additions to the post!
October 4th, 2006 at 4:57 am
I don’t think more people can be a bad thing but more people without any sense of personality responsibility or, in many cases, any sense at all, is a bad thing. Waste whether our personal 5lb a year or of the environment is not good, even if we can afford it. The more you save, the more you have to give, not only to the third world but to your own children; they’re entitled to breathe the same clean air and see all the flora and fauna their grandparents did. As for packaging, it’s surpassed ridiculous and entered the realm of paranoid psychosis. I’ve just used shears I use for cutting up to 1.5mm (!) sheet metal to get into my godson’s MP3 player and I’m I’m waiting for a reply to the email I sent the manager of my local supermarket asking him/her why on God’s green earth they sell COCONUTS wrapped in heavy cellophane. Do they honestly think we are stupid enough to think an unwrapped coconut is unhygienic?
October 4th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Waste is bad, but consumption is good. Consumption fuels economic growth. Waste can be curtailed with a little thought.
All in all, not a big problem.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Wastefulness is one of my pet peeves. I hate seeing it. However, I won’t stand by and support idiotic speeches and/or legislation from the worst offenders, like Gore and his moonbat friends.
There was no good reason for those moslem ruffians to destroy that 100 year old tree. We should be outraged at their actions!
October 4th, 2006 at 11:50 am
I don’t worry about it too much one way or another..the life style of freedom that I knew fifty years ago and even twenty five years ago is gone and probably I will never see it again.
I do believe though that nature will take care of itself and when overpopulation strains the environment too much nature wil figure out a way to either feed the population or to get rid of part of it..I figure that wars, famines, and natural disasters are just a way of thinning the herd
October 4th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Thanks y’all so much for the added comments and info!
October 4th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
I DO NOT FEEL SO BAD…I AM YOUR 29TH COMMENTOR…IMAGINE HAVING TO WAIT FOR ALL AMERICANS TO SOUND OFF ON ANGEL’S SITE…..
SO HOW COME MCDONALDS HAS SERVED 2 BILLON AND WAL-MART HAS SOLD TO 3 BILLION…SOME PEEPS ARE GOING MORE THAN ONCE!!!!!!