Clipping Board » Environmental Pollution & Change ─ How dirty the human heart is, how dirty the environment will be...
Update Date: 2010/07/07 22:34 Lin Jiaxuan
The documentary "The Age of Stupid" reveals a shocking fact: if all of humanity consumed energy the way Americans do, we would need four additional Earths to meet the demand. If the situation worsens, by 2040, we might need six Earths to sustain the current population.
Skiing in the desert or keeping the heater on and lights burning all night in an empty office? Energy is astonishingly cheap worldwide, and coupled with relentless economic activity, humans can't help but recklessly waste Earth's resources. The new poster child for this waste? China. Narrator: "China is the new-generation villain. They build a power plant every four days, but a quarter of that energy is used to produce goods for us."
For example, foreign companies set up factories in China, paying workers extremely low wages to mass-produce plastic toys that harm the environment. These toys are wrapped in plastic packaging, shipped to Europe, and then transported by gas-guzzling trucks to suburban megastores—further damaging the planet. Narrator: "Plastic toys in plastic boxes, stuffed into plastic bags. Two days later, the toy breaks and is sent back to a landfill in China... where it’ll sit for, say, 50,000 years."
Even more terrifying is this. Narrator: "Bottled water is better than tap water. Bottled water is better than tap water."
Humans consume 42 million bottles of water daily, wasting 8 million times more energy in the process. The cost of this 10,000-fold growth is ultimately borne by the planet.
Americans, who spend $17 billion annually on bottled water, remain the biggest culprits in destroying Earth's ecosystems. Iraqi boy: "If I see an American, I’ll kill him because they killed my father."
The Iraqi boy’s hatred for Americans over his father’s death is understandable, but what truly disgusts him is their wasteful lifestyle. Iraqi boy: "Americans aren’t like us. We wear our shoes until they’re ruined. They throw them away at the slightest flaw."
Fleeing Iraq to scrape by in Jordan, this boy carries a large bag of discarded American shoes to sell every day—an ironic but necessary survival tactic. His favorite pastime with friends? Iraqi girl: "I’m Ajla. Call 007945 now for a chance to win four Hummers and four 4x4 SUVs!"
Mimicking American shopping channels to mock the so-called "consumption devils." Narrator: "Americans are the most deeply and longest influenced by advertising. As a result, they consume twice as much energy as Europeans, nine times as much as the Chinese, 15 times as much as Indians, and 50 times as much as Kenyans."
With a global population of 6.5 billion, if everyone consumed energy like Europeans or Japanese, we’d need two more Earths to meet demand. Narrator: "If consumption habits matched those of Americans, Australians, or Canadians, we’d need four more Earths."
By around 2040, Earth’s population will exceed 9 billion, requiring two additional Earths’ worth of resources. Mrs. Pearce: "But the biggest problem is flying. A single trip from London to New York uses up our family’s entire annual carbon footprint—or even 3.5 years’ worth."
At the heart of global consumerism is the aviation industry. The capitalist race to outpace time zones is fueled by these flying metal birds.The budget airline owner said, "The most striking feature of the trademark is its color. Orange Telecom's logo is orange and black, while we use fluorescent colors."
Budget airlines are sprouting up like mushrooms after rain, with hundreds of new aircraft being added. While this sounds convenient, the staggering carbon emissions have become the final straw that breaks the planet's ecosystem.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 100707/ 8/ 28ul9. html
Human Energy Use Needs 4 More Earths
The documentary "The Age of Stupid" reveals a shocking fact: if all of humanity consumed energy the way Americans do, we would need four additional Earths to meet the demand. If the situation worsens, by 2040, we might need six Earths to sustain the current population.
Skiing in the desert or keeping the heater on and lights burning all night in an empty office? Energy is astonishingly cheap worldwide, and coupled with relentless economic activity, humans can't help but recklessly waste Earth's resources. The new poster child for this waste? China. Narrator: "China is the new-generation villain. They build a power plant every four days, but a quarter of that energy is used to produce goods for us."
For example, foreign companies set up factories in China, paying workers extremely low wages to mass-produce plastic toys that harm the environment. These toys are wrapped in plastic packaging, shipped to Europe, and then transported by gas-guzzling trucks to suburban megastores—further damaging the planet. Narrator: "Plastic toys in plastic boxes, stuffed into plastic bags. Two days later, the toy breaks and is sent back to a landfill in China... where it’ll sit for, say, 50,000 years."
Even more terrifying is this. Narrator: "Bottled water is better than tap water. Bottled water is better than tap water."
Humans consume 42 million bottles of water daily, wasting 8 million times more energy in the process. The cost of this 10,000-fold growth is ultimately borne by the planet.
Americans, who spend $17 billion annually on bottled water, remain the biggest culprits in destroying Earth's ecosystems. Iraqi boy: "If I see an American, I’ll kill him because they killed my father."
The Iraqi boy’s hatred for Americans over his father’s death is understandable, but what truly disgusts him is their wasteful lifestyle. Iraqi boy: "Americans aren’t like us. We wear our shoes until they’re ruined. They throw them away at the slightest flaw."
Fleeing Iraq to scrape by in Jordan, this boy carries a large bag of discarded American shoes to sell every day—an ironic but necessary survival tactic. His favorite pastime with friends? Iraqi girl: "I’m Ajla. Call 007945 now for a chance to win four Hummers and four 4x4 SUVs!"
Mimicking American shopping channels to mock the so-called "consumption devils." Narrator: "Americans are the most deeply and longest influenced by advertising. As a result, they consume twice as much energy as Europeans, nine times as much as the Chinese, 15 times as much as Indians, and 50 times as much as Kenyans."
With a global population of 6.5 billion, if everyone consumed energy like Europeans or Japanese, we’d need two more Earths to meet demand. Narrator: "If consumption habits matched those of Americans, Australians, or Canadians, we’d need four more Earths."
By around 2040, Earth’s population will exceed 9 billion, requiring two additional Earths’ worth of resources. Mrs. Pearce: "But the biggest problem is flying. A single trip from London to New York uses up our family’s entire annual carbon footprint—or even 3.5 years’ worth."
At the heart of global consumerism is the aviation industry. The capitalist race to outpace time zones is fueled by these flying metal birds.The budget airline owner said, "The most striking feature of the trademark is its color. Orange Telecom's logo is orange and black, while we use fluorescent colors."
Budget airlines are sprouting up like mushrooms after rain, with hundreds of new aircraft being added. While this sounds convenient, the staggering carbon emissions have become the final straw that breaks the planet's ecosystem.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 100707/ 8/ 28ul9. html