The American dream is great for the rest of the world when it comes to exporting our traditions of freedom and democratic practices, and the rule of law.
But for many people, the American dream is more about our lifestyle, loaded up with material objects and comforts. This cherished "dream" of comfort and materialism is fast becoming the Chinese and Indian dream too.
It is often stated that the United States consumes about 25 percent of world's resources while only making up 4.5% of the world's population. That was fine as long as we were alone. To phrase it a bit indelicately, the American is no longer the only gluttonous kid on the block.
While American consumption has not diminished, the Asian appetite for food, energy, paper and every other cornerstone of American material life has grown at an unsustainable rate, with China—not America—leading the charge.
This is the point that Lester R. Brown made Wednesday, Feb. 7, when he spoke in Washington, D.C. on "China as a Consuming Nation: What it Means for the World." It's also a theme in his latest book— Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet in Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2006). He points out, for example, that before mid-century, China will be consuming more oil and paper than the world now produces.
Brown's point is that the American way of life cannot be sustained by the world for China's population of 1.3 billion people alone—much less by China, America, and India together (there are 1.1 billion Indians right behind China in their desire and effort to create the "American Dream" in their country).
Lester Brown writings and thinking have shaped today's discussion of the earth and its future. Early in his career in 1964, he was adviser to Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman foreign agricultural policy and later was the administrator to the department's international effort.
In 1974, Brown founded Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues, according to the website of Earth Policy Institute, which he founded in 2001. As the author or coauthor of 50 books, Brown is extremely prolific and among the first to advocate policies for an environmentally sustainable economy.
Brown uses China as the wake-up call for the world, arguing that by mid-century, the entire world will not be able to produce enough oil and paper to supply Chinese demand.
"The western economic model—the fossil-fuel-based, auto-centered, throwaway economy—is not going to work for China," says Brown.
Among grain, meat, oil, coal, and steel, consumption in China has already surpassed the U.S. in all but oil. Chinese ate 382 million tons of wheat compared to 278 million tons Americans consumed in 2004.
"Among the big three grains, the world's most populous country leads in the consumption of both wheat and rice, and trails the United States only in corn use," says Lester Brown.
American's love their meat, but meat takes a considerable amount of resources to produce. You need land for the animals, waste management, and food, not to mention the oil and energy it takes to butcher and process the meat. In 2004, Chinese ate 63 million tons of meat, which is far more than the 37 million tons consumed in the United States.
Steel is the hallmark of industrialization, and China more than doubled the U.S. usage in 2003 with their 258 million tons compared to 104 million tons. The modernization of China has created a desire that has spawned a steel consumption rate never seen in any other country.
What can we make of this data? Lester Brown says that humanity as a whole must change its path and lifestyles to sustainable ones. The world's resources are finite. With two or more giants competing for usage, it is a fact: human beings will run out of oil, food, steel and other resources. What good is winning the eating competition if there is no civilization left to boast too?