In Reuters and other places, I am sure the discussion is all about how lower oil prices area a sign of a weakening US economy.
And it may be that.
But it also proves the important environmental point that the best way to save the world is to buy less. I would rather that it did not take an economic downturn, recession, depression, panic to show that to everyone. But that is the way of the world. The less we buy, the less is made, the fewer resources are used, the more resources are left for later when we will need it.
If only it were that simple.
The other side of all this is that the US and Europe has a large material advantage over the rest of the world. And we are not going to simply give them the money they need to get their infrastructure set up correctly (and I doubt that that would work anyway). The only way to China, India, Africa to get material wealth is for us to buy things from them, and their material wealth will improve their lives and at the same time ravish the world’s resources.
So what can we do to stop this?
That is not an answer for this single blog entry but I wish I had an answer that balanced those billions well-being against our own. I know I do not want to give up my air conditioning, my XM radio, my many choices of safe food from multiple grocery stores, my paved roads, my clean water, so there are more resources available for them to use. And I doubt if my giving up these things would help them in any way.
