Sometime this month--officially Tuesday of this week (although no one knows for sure)--the population of the United States reached 300 million.

Only two countries--China and India--have arrived at this total faster, and the U.S. continues to grow at a rate that exceeds any of its industrialized peers. Although the 300 million milestone is really no less arbitrary than 290 or 310 million, it should give pause to anyone who has ever sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

With the U.S. population expected to reach 400 million within the next forty years or so, one may wonder: how will the U.S. and the world respond to the rapid addition of "average Americans" and their current cumulative consumption patterns?

A few examples:

U.S. water withdrawals per capita are 1687 m3/year,
3 times that of the average German and
25 times that of the average Nigerian.

U.S. electricity consumption per capita is 13,243 kWh/year,
more than twice the average citizen of the United Kingdom,
30 times the average Indian, and
425 times that of the average Haitian.

U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita are approximately 20 metric tons/year,
twice the per capita emission rate of Japan,
5 times that of Argentina, and roughly
300 times that of Ethiopia.

U.S. paper consumption per capita is around 312 kg/year,
about 6 times the world average.

Assuming developing countries continue to increase their wealth and population sizes, their citizens will aspire to at least eat better and have clean water, if not own a television, a car, or a multi-room home. If global consumption increased to U.S. levels, we would consume triple the meat, five times the energy, and six times the paper that we do now.

Unsustainable consumption, by definition, must eventually cease. The looming questions are when, and how?

Future projections vary, but the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) and other comprehensive international studies agree in their predictions of accelerating, abrupt, and irreversible changes to ecosystems and human well being: extreme climatic events, species extinctions, emergence of new diseases, and decreased resource availability. However, these dramatic predictions are not inevitable. Sustainable development is still an achievable goal; the MEA outlines specific changes in governance, economic and incentive policies, social and behavioral responses, and the new technologies that can begin to mitigate the effects of ecosystem degradation.

Substantative changes require lasting commitments, however, by both governments and their citizens. As the 300 million residents of the United States ponder this new population milestone, we encourage the leaders in global consumption to also lead in the development of policies and practices that encourage sustainable resource use before the environmental, economic, and social impacts of unsustainable consumption are felt globally.


RELATED LINKS:

July 2006 Monthly Update: World Population Growth--Past, Present, and Future

Ask EarthTrends: Which are the most populated countries in the world today? What are some future population projections?

Population Reference Bureau

U.S. Census Bureau