The Pot Calling the Kettle Black !!
Many of the most connected political operatives in the United States have reported on the topics that were discussed by President Bush and his Chinese counterpart President Hu during their summit early last year.
A consensus has emerged among these well connected journalists and opinion shapers that athe main topic that occupied these two leaders was that of energy. President Bush, the political leader of a nation that consumes over 20 million barrels of crude oil a day has expressed concern about the rising level of consumption of a nation that has over five times the US population and yet consumes less than one third the US total. Can anyone pull that with a straight face? Are we truly telling others that we see nothing wrong in consuming fifteen times what they do on a per capita basis and that it is their relatively smaller consumption that needs to be constrained so that we can go on building our large homes, driving our huge SUVs and maintaining our highly energy intensive life style? It does take lots of chutzpah to do that, doesn’t it?
The United States makes up only about 5% of the world's population; however, it is its single largest source of carbon from fossil fuels, emitting about 24% of the world's totals. The average American citizen consumes about five times more energy than the average global citizen. President Bush has no buisness telling any country how to take control of their impact on the environment because his country does more damages to this planet than any other. President Bush needs to take advantage of his time left in office and make at least one positive impact on the inhabitants of this country: encourage not just people but government officials and corporations to change their procedures. When the president preeches about his concern for the environment he does not appear to be sincerely concerned or even properly educated on the facts. It is near impossible for a country to become more environemtally-friendly when its leader is ignorant to what is actually going on and how he as an individual can make a difference. It is not enough to just tell people what they should do. A good leader makes an example of himself and shows people what they should do. People can tell when someone is not sincere, and if you are not being true to your "beliefs" others will pick up on it and will realize that you are wasting your breathe and their time.
ReplyDeleteI think Bush does have a lot of nerve making such suggestions and that Americans have just as much nerve living in the fashion that they do. The idea to make other countries use less just so we could keep driving V8 gas-guzzlers and use more electricity is completely outrageous. But who really wants to stop living the way they do or have less than what they already have? I sure don’t. I believe in teaching about the environment and taking steps towards its benefit, but I’m personally not willing to go to the extreme like stop driving. However, that doesn’t mean that we should police the world and tell others how to live for our benefit. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t want to or need to live a better lifestyle. Rather than focusing on guiding others, we first need to guide ourselves in the right direction and start being more efficient with what we have. Once we can come to terms with working with what we have, then we can worry about consuming less. But in no means should we tell others what to do while we do not advocate it ourselves. That is the perfect definition of hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is what makes us think that we are better than the rest of the world’s population? We pollute and everyone else suffers. We consume and everyone feels the loss. We waste and deplete resources for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe United States citizens have to remember that we are not only ruining our future and the future of others around us, but the future of our race.
It certainly seems contradictory and deceiving to make a statement about the environmental footprint of another country while ignoring your own accountability. I think President Bush’s statement demonstrates a misunderstanding of the situation.
ReplyDeleteNatasha’s comment on the average American citizen consuming about 5 times the energy of an average global citizen is very relevant and indicative of our harmful contribution to the energy crisis. It is disrespectful to criticize someone else for something that we as a nation are largely responsible for, because that type of action makes it seem like we are trying to negate responsibility or scapegoat someone else. Placing blame onto others does not solve any problems, and in this case it is particularly unfair.
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