William Silvert wrote: > a stable population with a better quality of life does not > necessarily mean more resources are needed.
> some places have achieved high levels of economic > growth without comparable resource consumption > by taking advantage of good education and financial innovation, > notably Hong Kong and Singapore. Bill, could you elaborate more specifically about what you mean by a "better quality of life"? In Hong Kong the average size of a home is 450 square feet (2500 square feet was the average size of a new home in the USA in 2007 and 984 square feet was the average size in 1950). So climbing into one's bed from the doorway is a common occurrence for Hong Kongers. http://www.tuition.com.hk/hong_kong.htm And in 1999, there were only 59 cars per 1000 people in Hong Kong (vs 474 per 1000 in the USA) http://tinyurl.com/np36aa Likewise in Singapore 90 percent of the population lives in high-rise public housing and there are only 101 cars per 1000 people: http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=1908 Both Hong Kong and Singapore have little arable land and few natural resources, so they must import most of their food plus raw materials such as wood and petroleum. So it appears to me the underlying reasons why the people of Hong Kong and Singapore are achieving high levels of economic growth without comparable resource consumption is because they: a) don't have to consume land to grow food crops b) don't have to consume forests to obtain their building materials and paper products c) don't have to drill for oil or natural gas to obtain the petroleum the country uses to manufacture the products they export (e.g. electronics). d) are willing to live in extremely small homes and forsake the routine use of automobiles. What bothers me about the push for a steady state economy is that it's advocates claim no major lifestyle changes need to be made. So all it really appears to accomplish is to slightly slow down the the ongoing unsustainable rate of depletion of land, air and water resources. Worse, I feel it distracts the public in the USA, Canada, etc., from have to face the reality that serious sacrifices (in terms of home size, auto size and use, family size, etc.,) such as those the people of Hong Kong and Singapore are already making would be necessary to even start to come close to achieving a sustainable resource consumption rate. Paul Cherubini El Dorado, Calif.
