At San Jose State I was a member of the Environmental Studies Department in addition to my teaching duties in Political Science and American Studies. I taught a course entitled “U.S. Environmental Studies.” I would explain that the U.S., with five percent of the world’s population, consumed something like 40% of the earth’s resources.
I would also point out that the only thing that was saving the globe from total environmental degradation was that countries like India and China were dirt poor, depending on bicycles or walking for transportation and living in what we would consider to be primitive conditions. What would happen if those countries developed advanced consumer tastes like the U.S.along with the ability to satisfy them?
Last week General Motors announced that it would introduce nine S.U.V. models in China over the next five years. Chrysler plans to start marketing Jeep Cherokees. Ford is promoting the Lincoln brand.
The planet is doomed. It is not a matter of if, but when.
(Info for this post came from an article in the Business section of the Times entitled “Chinese Auto Buyers Grow Hungry for Larger Cars,” April 22, 2013.)
It is the reason why prices have boomed since then. China and India have a growing middle class. China has a middle class of 300 million people, roughly the same population of the U.S.
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