Britain is Eating the Planet
Posted on April 20, 2006
A BBC article says Britain is now "eating the planet" -- in other words the UK has nearly consumed its natural resources and is about to depend completely on resources imported from other countries.
A study by the New Economics Foundation (Nef) and the Open University says 16 April is the day when the nation goes into "ecological debt" this year.The UK is not alone -- other countries are contributing to the rapid use of natural resources on planet Earth. The article says the ecological debt day for the world is 23 October. That date gets earlier and earlier each year as more of the planet's natural resources are consumed. Here are a couple other dramatic points made in the article.It warns if annual global consumption levels matched the UK's, it would take 3.1 Earths to meet the demand.
But bio-geography professor Philip Stott criticised the "doomsday report", arguing it would hit poorer nations.
"What we tend to have - not just with this report but alternative reports on the other side - are two theological positions," said Prof Stott, of London University.
"This one is the kind of Doomsday report - on the other hand the total free-traders are far too optimistic."
It would be interesting to see how many Earths it would take to support the present US lifestyle.
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