"If everyone lived the way Americans do, we'd need a total of five earths to sustain ourselves."

Question

What does this imply? How does Canada fit into this picture?

Answer 1

As a whole, we are a wasteful people. Consumed by greed and the thirst for something better, we breakdown and destroy that which gives us life. The earth can no longer sustain our lifestyle and coupled with the ever-growing number of people within our boarders, that lifestyle will ultimately be the death of us. We are too comfortable with the way things are and cannot think about what might come. If we continued on this path there is no doubt that we will destroy our planet. Already, the polar ice caps are melting and in another 25 years the Great Barrier Reef will be dead. Our lavish ways have become our collective achillies heel. The rate at which we consume our non-renewable resources (like fossil fuels for example) greatly surpasses our use of alternative fuels and renewable energies, like wind and solar power. We will need another five earths to continue living as "comfortably" as we do now.

As for Canada, they have far fewer numbers and is very much more "wild" than the United States.

Answer 2

It implies the asker is pretty dumb.

The GDP of the world is about $45 trillion dollars. The United States produces about $13 trillion of it, about 30%.

The population of the world is 6.5 billion.
The population of the USA is 300 million.

This means 300 million Americans produce 1/3 as much as 6.2 billion people.... the rest of the world.

Now, doesn't it stand to reason that Americans would use more natural resources?

Answer 3

1. It implies that you are much more comfortable with slander than with facts.
2. It implies that you subscribe to the "The world's going to hell in a hand basket." theory, you need a scapegoat, and everyone else scorns Americans, so you might as well blame them for all the ills that the world has brought upon itself.
3. It implies that you are looking only for answers that agree with your point of view, and that any which do not conform will be rejected.
4. It implies that you would rather insult people than engage in honest dialog, since your premise is an insult.

Americans enjoy a better standard of living than almost everyone else in the world because they work harder than almost everyone else in the world. They contribute more to easing pain and suffering than anyone else in the world.

Canadians aren't all that different. Does that imply that you seek to condemn Canadians as wastrels as well?

Answer 4

I read the article you are referring to. It was an article posted on Yahoo News on October 24th, titled "Humans living far beyond planet's means: WWF"

Americans (I'm an American) are very wasteful and we don't recycle as much as we should. We are always looking for more convenient, DISPOSABLE products. Not too mention driving the SUV's that guzzle gas.

Answer 5

Do you have information to substantiate your statement? Or are you just making an assertion based on your own beliefs?