Some Stats
As Americans we make up 5% of the worlds population.
As Americans we consume 30% of the worlds resources.
That should not sit well.
Carlos
As Americans we make up 5% of the worlds population.
As Americans we consume 30% of the worlds resources.
That should not sit well.
Carlos
RAIN IT DOWN
We could save some ink if tattoos were outlawed
ha.
Did you get that from Oprah’s freeganism show the other day? I heard that too, and I thought, what do I need to do change that?
ugh
i’m proud to be an american?
Ha. Yup. Oprah and me are tight on Saturdays. Just watched that
It most definitely doesn’t.
=(
Very sad.
In 2003 the number of new pediatric AIDS cases in North America was fifty nine.
In Ethiopia the number of new pediatric cases in 2003 was roughly sixty thousand.
THAT also should not sit well.
Does anyone ever check Oprah’s sources? ….
Or is her word simply taken as veritable gospel truth at this point?
I’m not saying the stat is inaccurate necessarily, just that more relevant context should be provided.
I’m not saying the stat is inaccurate necessarily, just that more relevant context should be provided.
Like, for instance, the percent of the world’s resources Americans produce? Depending on which resources we’re talking about, higher levels of consumption are required in order to maintain high levels of production. North America (US and Canada), for instance, is one of the largest producers and distributors of food, but we have to consume a lot of other resources in order to achieve that production and distribution.
Which is not to say that we’re not addicted to consumerism. We are. But scare stats add heat to the debate and very little light. How many more people around the world would starve or not have medicine if US consumption was proportional to its population rather than its level of production?
Welp, we live (quite happily I might add) in our advanced technological society. It seems we are never content with what we have individually, but then we gripe about how much we have nationally.
I don’t get it. We want it all, but don’t want the reputation.
I’m a consumer. I’m not proud, but I’m thankful.
Who cares?
Originally posted by Higoda: Who cares?
Hmmm… thank God that wasn’t Christ’s attitude toward the poverty and pain in this world.
And I think some of you are missing the BIGGER PICTURE.
Oh, and Oprah was NOT the first one to say this, btw.
Yep, I’m part of that problem
been watching oprah los?? up for a trash tour?? crazy huh!! that couple that was on oprah has a blog
http://theburts.wordpress.com/
So maybe we should power down the iPods and laptops to make up for some of that?
I hate that I am apart of this problem!!
i mentioned this book before, and i encourage people to read it. it’s called ‘Rich Christians in An Age of Hunger’ by Ronald Sider. one of the most eye opening books i’ve read in a long time. it tackles alot of issues like this.
http://www.miniature-earth.com/me_english.htm
yet we always wonder how we can help other countries that arent as well off as us, but are bigger.
im trying to spread the word of poverty and and how we can help it, there are so many ways to help. people are blind to the ways. and im just a small corner, no more like a tiny crevace in the internet blogging atmosphere. but hopefully something will change soon. imagine if every american helped. this world would be WAY different.
shocking stats los.
god bless.
bryan
www,bryan2.wordpress.com
We may consume a lot, but we also produce a lot. We also are the most giving nation on this planet. How many foreign sources helped up during Katrina? How much did the oil-rich countries help us? How much help did we get during all the flooding in the middle of our country a few short years ago? Negligible on all those counts and more. Yes I’m proud to be an American and I’m also proud to be part of a segment of the Christian community that will use and consume anything possible to get the word out, including internet blogs, Mackie sound systems, JBL speakers, PCs, MACs, iPODS, Yamaha amplifiers, Shure microphones, Peavey guitars, Fender guitars, Gibson guitars, old Univox guitars, no-name violins, Alesys keyboards, solid steel staging and pipes to transform rooms, helicopters to drop plastic eggs requiring manufacturing, printing shops to produce thousands of fliers and invite cards, potato chips and soda for sharing and inviting neighbors watching the Super Bowl, and so on and so on – for Jesus…just a thought….
No offense, 5stringer, but you know NOT what you are talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina
– From someone who LIVES HERE.
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=4218
it certainly doesn’t sit well.
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=2106
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?page_id=3788
A. Anonymous people are weak.
B. My ads pay for my child to go to preschool.
C. http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=4329#respond
Please get off your soap box now please.
–
so…wait…we should rejoice in our blessings…but…it’s wrong to consume resources?
i get what you’re saying, but honestly i am just a tiny bit confused…
Typical anti-American guiltmongering. It’s convenient for Oprah and her followers to ignore the fact that with that (alleged) 30% resource consumption, this 5% of the world’s population produces more than one-fifth of the world’s GDP, and nearly 1.5 times as much as our next closest competitor. The facts should speak for themselves:
World GDP Production as Percentage (Top 5 Contributors)
1) United States (20.57%)
2) China (13.99%)
3) Japan (6.57)
4) India (6.17%)
5) Germany (4.11%)
(Source: “IMF World Economic Outlook and EconStats”, http://www.econstats.com/weo/V012.htm)
Back off my country now, please.
And angry steady rock is precisely the reason why we need change.
Because there is no fault in our country and we need to “back off” the country.
I’m not only NOT going to back off “my” country, i am going to press on.
I’m not angry, I’m just being fair. My point is simply that there are two sides to every coin, and both need to be illustrated even when it is inconvenient to your point to do so. Anything less is dishonest.
What “change” have you proposed here (and will it be accompanied by “hope”?) The only thing you have done with this post is attempt to make your readers feel guilty for keeping the lights on, by telling only one side of the story. That’s dangerous territory, because you conjured up guilt but didn’t direct it anywhere.
I understand the effects of global poverty, and I understand that as an enormously blessed nation we have an obligation per Luke 12 to shepherd those who have less (in most cases, much less). I do that, and I know you do as well. In a lot of areas, we could each do more I am sure. If that was your point, though, you missed it entirely when you played the class envy/guilt card instead of challenging your readers to take any kind of action.
I’m not exactly sure what is not supposed to sit well. We consume a lot of resources. We are a very blessed country. We would consume more than our fair share of resources even if we gave almost all of what we have away. Of course if we did that, we would have nothing to give the next time a need arose…
I’m pretty sure we all have on “off” switch on our electrical panels. No one holds a gun to our heads to force us to drive. (Even your hybrid is a ecological nightmare.) Toilet paper is a luxery to most of the world. And do we really need showers when there are perfectly good storm drains available? I hope you don’t need any medications. Those gotta go.
My point is, it’s so easy to rail against generic “consumerism”. Yet it is also a meaningless complaint.
What exactly are we supposed to stop consuming? Would using your left hand instead of tp actually help the poor and disadvantaged? Or would the increased death and disease offset any savings generated?
Perhaps we should strive to live in humble gratefulness to God for His blessing and ask His direction in how He wants us to put them to good use. We can use the resources He has given us to bring His truth and love to the world. Salvation and the death of the sin nature would do more to solve all the world’s problems than driving a (very expensive, resource guzzling) hybrid.
–
gotta say, i agree with someone sad, steadyrock and michelle…it’s real easy (and VERY popular) to point the finger at ‘consumerism’ right now and to say that every Christian and every church is at fault (other than me and mine of course).
i fully believe that we should be consistently seeking the Lord in how we might give more, do more, help more in the world, but you can’t have it both ways. you can’t say “we all need to change how we spend money” and then say “my production team did a great job building yet another incredibly expensive set for our church.” it’s just counter productive.
michelle hinted to the other issue: which ’cause’ is the most Christian? should we be fighting aids…or sheltering the homeless…or digging wells for the thirsty…or adopting kids…or signing petitions…or preserving natural resources…or relieving debt…or donating blood…or distributing Bibles?
or should we humbly and individually come before God and say “here am i, send me” and see how God WILL lead us to impact the person/group/issue that He desires, without coercion or pressure or telling us how disappointed He is that we live in the place He put us in…
the problem with gene’s well versed comment is the problem with trying to have conversations on a blog.
Context.
Gene, you were articulate yet quoted words never typed. I believe the purpose of quotation marks was to call for verbatim.
Hopefully by hanging around here you know that this is a place for the imperfect trying to figure it out.
To your semi point.
I do believe you can build expensive sets and be wise with your money.
But the fact that grocery stores throw away over a billion dollars a year should still not sit well even if you work at a mega church.
–
ok, since you like going beat by beat:
To Your Response -
i get that and even agree with that…but what you said is that our resource consumption should not sit well with us…right?
since you’re leaving us to ‘figure it out’ then it seems like you’re indicating that the amount of money we spend is too much in light of the great suffering in the world.
a $1500 macbook (like the one i am using right now) could buy a lot of Bibles/food/AIDS medicine for people who desperately need it. so…either God doesn’t want ANY of us to have macbooks until there is no more suffering in the world, or there must be a more personal, more intimate way of finding out how He wants us to reach out to others…a way that doesn’t include me telling you what you have to do or vice versa.
To Your Attitude -
i think your readers are faithful to meet you more than half-way in a lot of the ways you choose to write. for example, when you talk about self-pimping i guess i don’t really assume that you are actually talking about trading sexual favors for money…after all, i believe the term ‘pimping’ indicates procuring prostitution. so how about you meet me half-way with my admittedly non-verbatim quoting. i think we all understood what was meant.
…either that or lets think of some new punctuation that signifies paraphrasing. whatever you decide is fine with me.
Ha!
Love it.
OK. Again. Attaching a response to an attitude derived from text in a comment section of a blog is as whack as this run on sentence.
My attitude says this.
I think we as Americans consume frivolously and are addicted to a figment of our American imaginations.
I just spent a week in Kampala getting everything I knew as normal, smashed.
I know. I know. I was a rookie third worlder.
But with the smell of some of the suburbs of hell still fresh in my nose, I think my eyes looking upon me, myself, I, my church, and my nation are fresher than those daily commuters who are existing their way through life without even knowing the desire they have for change.
And I desire for these conversations to exist. Because honestly, they don’t.
I do say bravo to you though.
Most commenters with any opposing views to anything in the blog world are anonymous like “someone sad”. So bravo to you for speaking out and adding to a great discussion.
–
thanks for the response.
i think it’s rad that God is doing things in your heart.
blessings
Defend your country all you want but do it while doing what Matthew 25 says, remember who the goats were? IF not go read it again.
As long as you are doing ALL God calls you to do THEN the stats WILL change cuz’ we are all being Jesus to people, it is that simple.
I see not guilt trip just reality.
Amen to Carlos & to Carole.
Gene, et.,al:
Your defensiveness is very telling, IMHO.
You know, Jesus didn’t ask every person who had wealth to give it up. There were other wealthy people in his day — some of whom Jesus befriended. But when He asked the rich, young ruler to give it up, it was an issue.
Why is that?
Because FOR HIM it was an issue.
Nobody is suggesting you have to throw away your Mac or start wiping with your left hand!
BUT, we should not be so attached to the THINGS of this world that we are ready to “throw down” over a simple suggestion that we Americans consume too much.
Whether YOU like it or not, it’s true.
We waste a LOT.
Do you really — in your heart of hearts — believe that Jesus Christ, if He were here today, would dispute this fact???
REALLY????
And if you need Carlos to hold your hand and explain to you each and every step you can take to make a difference in this world, then God help you. I should think that we — as Christians — should be constantly alert to these illustrations. I was not offended in the least. And I think everyone here with a heart for the poor and the lost and orphaned understood what his intent.
No, it doesn’t sit well with me.
Does that make me any less patriotic?
If you think so, you don’t understand the meaning of patriotism.
Acknowledging a problem is not synonymous with treason.
I don’t know why anyone quotes these kinds of “statistics”. This may be factual, but it is not truthful. This “statistic” implies that we are somehow robbing the rest of the world of their energy. The truth of the matter is that if the rest of the world were as developed as the USA is, there would simply be a lot more energy used. Come on, Los, we are not bad guys because we use more energy.
Peter
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summer, just to clarify…i agree with you that Jesus spoke to people on the individual level. that was my problem with this post…it did not come across as an exhortation to the individual, but instead, it read a bit more like an editorial on the entire Christian family in america.
i don’t think i’m feeling defensive at all. i recognize that we waste a lot…lots of food, lots of money, lots of time, lots of effort. i suppose that in the grand scheme of things, wasting our time is just as ungodly as wasting our funds. interestingly, we don’t talk about our time nearly as much as we do our wallets.
i also think that the Church should be the most powerful giving center in the world. that the Church should be clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, etc, while giving the good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
however, i don’t think that generalizations are helpful when discussing the Christian life. what i think is that big, blanket statements that lay guilt and burdens on Christians is not what God intends for us. Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. that doesn’t mean we don’t need to sacrifice anything, in fact we are supposed to take up a cross every day and crucify our flesh. what it does mean is that our Lover and Savior isn’t going to hit us in the face and tell us what terrible, terrible disappointments we are to Him.
i hope that makes sense. honestly, i think we in the west have been given much and so we should give much. i think that the love of money is the root of all evil. i think it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
but i also think that the anti-church, anti-Christian bandwagon we often find ourselves on is one that is not driven by the Spirit of God. that’s all. i think Jesus is a God of love, not of coercion. a God of grace, not a God of guilt.
i think since we love to call for revival we should remember that revival always starts in the individual. i think we should stop giving the finger to Christ’s Bride and check our own personal lives for ways that we might do what God wants us to do better.
what do you think?
Gene,
Well, I certainly like this reply better than your first one.
I agree with most of what you say, but I disagree that there is “no purpose” in generalizations like this. Whether people like it or not, statements like this get people’s attention and get them talking.
And I hate to break it to you, but I’ve heard similar statistics before. Most of these are backed by valid research.
What? Are we going to stick our fingers in our ears like 6-year-olds just because we don’t like what the statistics say?
It’s not like Los (or Oprah for that matter) revealed some hidden mystery about the world’s situation, but if even ONE person read that statement and said, “Wow; I need to rethink some of my life — I need to DO something to make a difference” — then it’s totally worth it.
For most people, it takes the shock value of hearing something so outrageous to make them come out of their perfect, little bubbles and see the world as it really is.
I will admit: I have issues with Christians who have a knee-jerk reaction to anything considered “LIBERAL.” It’s almost as though some have grouped “Democrats and ALL the things they care about — particularly the environment — as things not worthy of serious consideration by Christians. “Worship the Creator, not the creation!”
Well, yeah.
But what’s wrong with taking a genuine interest in our fellow man and how we are treating this world we have been given? Do we really have to throw the baby out with the bath water?
Please hear me out: I’m not saying that’s what YOU are saying, but I swear to you that I have talked to Christians who feel like that. And that was the *vibe* I was getting from all the angry comments left on this topic… An almost “How DARE you make me feel bad about my opulent lifestyle?”
I see absolutely NO harm or ill intent in what Los posted.
If it makes EVEN ONE person take pause and consider it, then it has a purpose.
I think Jesus went around saying things that made people uncomfortable all the time.
–
thanks for the response again summer. and thanks for clarifying that you didn’t mean me in your sixth paragraph…for a second i was confused since i didn’t refute the stats, didn’t say anything about democrats, didn’t put any fingers in my ears and didn’t say there was no purpose in generalizations, just that they aren’t usually that helpful.
i will say that i think we’ll have to agree to disagree on methodology. i just personally don’t want to operate under a ends-justifies-the-means mentality of ministry/Christian living.
thanks for your thoughts. i suppose we should eventually move on to other posts and other thoughts as God continues to water the seeds planted from this conversation.
blessings
Good stuff Summer, that’s why I hang with you gurl!