economy

(11/21/2008) - In Deep Economy, Bill McKibben starts with a simple premise - we may want to reconsider that whole economic growth thing.  For one, it is unlikely that the earth’s resources will be able to support U.S. style growth, and the consumption that supports it, for everyone in the world.  If Chinese citizens consumed as much per capita as Americans, they’d use 2/3 of the 2004 grain harvest, 99 million barrels of oil a day (current production stands a hair over 80 mbd), 2.8 billion tons of coal per year (current world production is 2.5 billion tons), and 303 million tons of paper (double world production).  American-style growth for everyone would push the world to the brink, argues McKibben. And China isn’t even the largest country anymore.