POLS 384 Lec. 6 1 Can we all live this way? Population and Consumption: Feast and Famine, Equity and Ecology

POLS 384 Lec. 6 2 Ecological literacy & exponential growth u u Population growth – –DCs: from 2% to 1.4% ( ) – –ICs: from. 6% to.3% ( ) – –World: 1.6% to 1.1 % F F UN projects 8-10 billion by 2050 u u Consumption – –Growing twice rate as fast as population – –Directly correlated with energy use

POLS 384 Lec. 6 3 Global class analysis u u Global rich (1/5 world population) – –Control 90% of world's wealth – –Emit 85% of world's greenhouse gases u u Global poor (1/5 world population) – –World wealth & greenhouse gases: 2% u u Global middle class (60% of population) World wealth & greenhouse gases: 10% u u Trends?

POLS 384 Lec. 6 4 Food: economic and ecological connections u u 1 billion people chronically undernourished – –40,000 people, mostly children, die daily u u Affluent countries: obesity a chronic problem – –1 can of diet soda: 2400 cals. to produce for 1 cal. of nutrition F F Same energy could produce 7000 cals. of food u u Q: Source of the surplus energy ?

POLS 384 Lec. 6 5 The food-energy connection u u Fossil-fuel based global food web – –Fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, machines u u Transportation u u U.S.: the agricultural hegemon – –40% of all wheat exports; 50% corn; #1 rice exporter u u States subsidize crops central to their citizens' diets: What does U.S. subsidize?

POLS 384 Lec. 6 6 Environmental effects of meat u u Cattle outnumber humans 3:1 – –Average American consumes over 2 kg/wk (India = 2 kg/year) u u Environmental consequences – –Waste in rivers & groundwater – –Tropical deforestation – –Desertification from – –Methane: 80 million tons/year u u Water for a typical American's meat = daily home water use

POLS 384 Lec. 6 7 Water Facts u “Basic daily need:” liters –Africans: 37 liters –U.S.: 420 liters F 5% of world population, 15% of world’s water –1.1 billion lack safe drinking water u Water use grew twice as fast as pop. in 20 th C. u Bottled water: over $100 billion in 2005 u $10 billion/year needed to meet U.N. goal of cutting number of people in half by 2015 u 1.5 million barrels oil > 2.7 million tons of plastic for bottled water

POLS 384 Lec. 6 8 Development & the Global Food Web u u Shift from food self-sufficiency to dependency u u Export-led growth: cash crops, not food for people – –DCs: coffee, sugar, cotton F F Heavily dependent on petrochemicals F F Ex: Chocolate (transparency) u u Monocultures and declining biodiversity