Americans Waste Food And Natural Resources example essay topic

According to our reader, 'there seems to be an inverse relationship between GDP and the quality of life. The more GDP grows, the more the quality of life deteriorates. This made me think about how much Americans waste food and natural resources. For example, FOX had a show, where people tried to out eat each other. The glutton and wastefulness was appalling, and at the same time, entertaining to some. There's an epidemic sweeping the country.

It's not your typical virus, but rather a / highly contagious disease of epidemic over consumption, and the symptoms include compulsive shopping, high debt, overwork, inability to delay gratification, a sense of entitlement, obsession with externals and 'having it all,' wastefulness, and stress. The disease is called, which is derived from the word 'affluence,' meaning: 'a: an abundant flow or supply: PROFUSION b: abundance of property: WEALTH. ' According to. org, The average adult spends more time shopping each week than's / he spends with his or her children. 'More Americans visit shopping malls on Sunday than go to church. More Americans file for bankruptcy each year than graduate from college.

The average American home is more than twice as large as it was in the 1950's, yet the average family is smaller. We work longer, have less time for families, and are more stressed out. ' In a recent interview, i read that President George Bush was told that American consumers need to cut down on their over consumption of food, energy and consumer products in order to protect the world from environmental degradation. The argument was that an average American family of four, for example, consume much more than an average extended family of eight or ten in India or Mexico.

Over consumption was, therefore, as destructive as overpopulation, but the US kept pointing its finger at developing nations urging them to curb their population growth while refusing to yield to the consumption demand. Bush stated, 'The American lifestyle is not up for negotiations,' It seems that the American economy, after all, thrives on over consumption, and Americans would, therefore, continue to consume recklessly irrespective of what the world thinks of them. Even during the global oil crisis of the mid-1970's, Americans hardly changed their lifestyles - except to temporarily abandon their gas-guzzlers in favor of mid-sized compact cars. Even that has changed. in class, the subject of SUV's has been discussed. Even if Americans have changed to more gas-efficient cars, this trend is changing.

Who would have thought in these delicate environmental times that the public could be sold a popular mode of transport. On the news recently, it was stated that SUV's use one-third more fuel and creates 75 per cent more pollution than ordinary cars? And who would have guessed that the average fuel efficiency of US cars in the year 2001 would be less than in the hog-car days of the 1950's and 1960's? Environmentalists have calculated that the SUV fad has caused Americans to waste 70 billion gallons of gasoline in the past 10 years - an immense price for an outdoorsy image.

What is absurd, is that the majority of SUV's are in big cities - not in the country, where SUV's can be useful. But, SUV's are not the culprit. We all hear it, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people. ' Just like this, people waste energy, and we should be responsible for the power we use. After doing a lot of web surfing, these are a few of the statistics that i was able to find. These statistics are important to find and use, because if we do not understand / know the depth of the problem, individuals will not want to make changes in our.

Americans consume more materials and energy per person than any other people on Earth. A routine day in the US means the following has occurred: 200,000 tons of edible food is thrown out; We use 313 million gallons of fuel 18 million tons of raw materials are taken from the Earth; 6.9 billion gallons of drinking water is used to flush toilets 1 million bushels of litter is thrown out of car windows; 10,000 minks are added to the closets and coat racks of the wealthy; $200 million is spent on advertising; $100 million board feet of wood is sawed; 250,000 tons of steel is used; 187,000 tons of paper is used. President Bush tried to blame everything on overcrowding, but this is not the true problem. After September 11th, we must look at how other countries view us.

For example, when I was in Singapore, it was obvious that Americans were viewed in high regard; however, it was also obvious that this globalization was hurting our image as well. With over 5 billion people living in the World, the rest of the world cannot live as we do. But if we don't cut back consumption and pollution, poorer nations can rightfully aim to emulate us. But, It seems that one has to be crazy if we thing that people in Canada or the US will cut back on consumption. It's natural to want more.

' Now that I have heard / read all the ways that Americans are wasting the World's resources, I must ask myself what can I do to help alleviate my own. The answers are simple. Live more simply. Save more money. Spend less. Cut back.

Conserve. Avoid impulse spending. These seem like easy solutions, however, there are other ways that we can individually use less. After writing PG&E, this is what I have been doing: 1. Turning off all lights when no one is in the room 2. Turning off ALL appliances that are not being used at the moment 3.

Use light bulbs that are easier on the environment and use less electricity. (this alone has saved me $70 on my last electric bill. 4. Recycle all glass, plastic and paper. According to PG&E commercials, recycling 1 glass bottle can produce enough power for a television for 3 hours.

In conclusion, I can state that I have learned more about how the US is wasteful, and there are things that I can individually do to alleviate some of the problems. Unfortunately, I do not have a magic cure for. Considering that President Bush does not want to change this trend, but at least i can do my part.