Everyone with access to a newspaper or even a radio is aware of the national and increasingly international credit crisis. Banks are afraid of loaning money to other banks in fear of them closing next week, so you can imagine what they think of small businesses and average people in need of some cash to buy a home, car or whatnot. Yet there is another crisis that does not care about dollars, euros or yen, it has to deal with our planet as a whole.
From The BBC:
The Living Planet Report is the work of WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network.
It says that more than three quarters of the world's population lives in countries where consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal.
This makes them "ecological debtors", meaning that they are drawing - and often overdrawing - on the agricultural land, forests, seas and resources of other countries to sustain them.The report concludes that the reckless consumption of "natural capital" is endangering the world's future prosperity, with clear economic impacts including high costs for food, water and energy.
Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy at the conservation group's Scotland arm, added: "While the media headlines continue to be dominated by the economic turmoil, the world is hurtling further into an ecological credit crunch."
The United States of course is the largest debtor in this sense, though China is vying to be the world's largest polluter and energy hog. Despite the arrogance of China's growing economy, that does not mean we in America cannot help to lead by example and help alleviate this ecological crisis. President Bush was certainly not up to the task, but under Obama and a public willing to make changes across the board, we can certainly alter our course for the better.
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