The Dutch consume more than the Earth can produce
Wednesday, 16 April 2008 04:36
Dennis Russchen
This is the central line of argument of the World Wide Fund for Nature. If all the people in the world would consume as much as every Dutch person consumes nowadays, the world would need another globe within thirty years to be able to sustain itself. Former calculations ended in the same result, the only difference thereby that the timeframe would be fifty instead of thirty years. The Fund bases these conclusions on its Living Planet Report. This is an annual report of the WWF about the health state of the earth. 2009 was the first year that the report also concentrated on the Netherlands, concluding that the Dutch are consuming relatively lots of energy. On the on hand, the Dutch use a lot more natural resources than the average cosmopolitan, and on the other hand, they are consuming these resources faster than the world can produce them. Hereby, the report especially points to wood, fish, clean water and fertile soil. The picture on the right shows how many globes are needed for the earth to be able to maintain its level of building sites, fishing grounds, forests, pastures, cultivation ground, and the amount of fossil fuels. To draw up a comparison: the Dutch are consuming 2,4 globes, the Americans 4,8, where the Chinese (just 1) and Malawi’s (only 0,2) are satisfied with a lot less. The WWF sums up a few easy but effective solutions. For instance, we should start consuming less meat. “Producing” meat is indissolubly connected with large emissions of CO2, NO, and SO, but is also indirectly responsible for acid rain, spoiled soil, and the lack of clean water. Approximately 15.000 liters of water is needed to produce just 1 kg of cow-meat. All in all, the picture of the Report is quite pessimistic. The Dutch, and most of the other Western countries in the world should find a solution for these problems, or should consume less than the earth can produce for the earth to stay livable.
Last Updated ( Monday, 25 May 2009 13:24 )
