Why do Americans consume so many natural resources?

  • Thread starter Thread starter arvhaax93
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arvhaax93

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I know that America has a greater economy than many other nations, but why is it that we all could easily be helping the environment by being conservative, but many choose not to. Why are Americans so much more ignorant that the rest of the world that the ice caps are melting right before their eyes? Many Americans choose to waste things by not recycling and putting their food wastes in garbage disposals. As an American myself, it makes me very angry that the country I live in is so ignorant.
 
Hypocrite. It's not just Americans, it's the whole world. And I don't waste a thing s ;p
 
we use so much because we can. if I can drive to Mexico and back for $50, just for fun, I'll do it. It is cheap and entertaining. If I can take a shower for another 20 minutes with only paying 60 more cents on my water bill, I 'll do it. We have so much resource, we can use alot of it with out thinking about it. America just works this way.
 
I would say it's more fair to ask "why does the Western world consume so many resources?". I think the answer to that is based on how we define success as well as our sense of entitlement. Let's face it, success means money, cars, big houses, lots of trendy clothes and other wasteful things. How we got to considering success as these things, I don't know, but we're certainly going to need to redefine success if this planet is going to succeed.

The second cause is probably our sense of entitlement. Once again, I'm not sure where this came from. For some reason though we feel that turning 16 means we "deserve" to have a car. We feel that Getting a job means we "deserve" to have a big screen TV. Try to tell people that what they "deserve" is hurting the world so they shouldn't get it and they will fight you to the bitter end. The truth is though, we don't "deserve" anything. There is no universal right to cars or big screen TVs. Heck, over history people have worked themselves to the bone just to buy food, but for us mechanization combined with cheap oil makes us feel like we should have those things, even if we don't even know what true hard work is.

Those that push the blame for ecological crises to China and India are hypocrites. Yes, they are coming up in the world and in doing so are consuming resources. However, they're doing so because they aspire to the "glamorous" life that WE display. Also, just because they're using resources doesn't mean we aren't. Stop worrying about fixing other countries and try fixing your own. Maybe they'll aspire to our new, greener, lifestyle.
 
Maybe your the one who is ignorant most americans are barely getting by and to go green cost more money. Sorry if its between saving the ice caps and feeding a family I chose the later. The US is not the biggest consumer just ask India or China about their consumption and polution. I do recycle but the American people can only take so much BS about the enviroment right now mayeb in a few years but until the economy straightens out the enviroment will be put on the backburner sorry!!!
 
Actually Americans are improving but there still are many people that are ignorant and don't see the benefits of recycling or doing their part for the environment. The only thing we can really do is try to encourage people to do their part.
 
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