The Earth's atmosphere is increasingly polluted and climate change poses a real threat. Per year:
- An US citizen produces an average of 22.9 tonnes of CO2;
- Average emissions of a European citizen are 10.6 tonnes of CO2;
- The average sub-Saharan African causes 4.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions; and
- Per-capita emissions of an Indian average 1.8 tonnes of CO2.
Emissions of greenhouse gases are invisible to the human eye, so it is difficult to understand the significance of impacts on the average person in an industrialized country, emitting a tonne of CO2 each month. Every day 80 million tons are emitted around the world.
In matter of size a tonne of carbon dioxide is really enormous. But how much is a tonne of CO2?
To deliver an answer to this question, the architect Christophe Cornubert and the artist Alfio Bonanno have created an cube-like installation. Their cube of CO2 represents a tonne of carbon dioxide and in size is equivalent to 8 m3 — imagine a square of 4 x 10 human steps of side length. This equals the impact of a monthly average person in the world and what an American citizen consumes in two weeks.
According to 2010 edition of Worldwatch Institute's annual report "State of the World", the 500 million world's richest individuals (about 7 percent of global population) are responsible for 50 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide, while the 3 billion poorest people are responsible for only 6 percent of global CO2 pollution. There is a clear causal relationship between consumption, economic wealth and CO2 emissions.
Here some other interesting and at the same time shocking facts about the state of our world, outlined in the 2010 edition of Worldwatch Institute's annual report "State of the World":
- Between 1950 and 2005 the production of metals has increased by six times;
- The consumption of oil has increased by eight times and consumption of natural gas of fourteen;
- The average European uses 43 kg resources and an American 88;
- On a global scale, every day as many global resources are consumed with which it would be possible to build 112 Empire State Buildings;
- In the last five years consumption increased by 28 percent;
- In 2008, around the globe people have purchased: 68 million vehicles, 85 million refrigerators, 297 million computers and 1.2 billion mobile phones;
- Increases are not only due to population growth: between 1960 and 2006 the global population has increased by a factor of 2.2, while the per capita expenditure on consumer goods has almost tripled;
- English children recognize more easily the various Pokémon that any species of wildlife;
- American children of two years are not able to read the letter M, but many recognize the arches in the shape of McDonald's restaurants;
- Two German shepherd dogs consume more resources in one year than an average inhabitant of Bangladesh;
- Gobbling food or goods is neither good for individuals nor for the environment. The majority of individuals of the world's population consumes an average of 1800-1900 calories a day, while the average American consumes 3830 calories a day.
Only by understanding the consequences of our individual lifestyle and consumptions and our individual impact on global emissions of carbon dioxide, people better understand the dimension of the threat and that each one of us can and should contribute to help to stop global warming. Simple things can help, but we need start rethinking our consumption habits and try to adjust our lifestyle to save resources.
Sources: Solarenews.it, nestorepaladinoambiente.it, worldwatch.org, republica.it.
Posts
