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Revision as of 16:05, 2 July 2005
Over-consumption is a concept coined in developing nations to counter the rhetoric of over-population by which developed nations judge them as consuming more than their economy can support. A key argument, often made by Green parties and the ecology movement, is that consumption per person, or ecological footprint, is lower in poor than in rich nations. Another key argument, often made in the anti-globalization movement, is that economics itself, particularly that of the commodity markets, is a 'rigged game' by which developed nations loot developing nations of their wealth, including especially their human capital - a process called human capital flight.
Over-consumption is also measurable. The average energy consumption per person in the United States is 235,000 per day, while the average consumption in the world is 8,000 calories per day. Two articles in Physics Today, July 2004 showed that the combination of over-consumption of energy and over-population may have serious consequences for the future of mankind if action is not taken in this generation. Coal, in particular, is the main cause of global warming and other irreversible global pollution.