This is the sort of thing that could go into an Environment Forum

[Michaelangelica]

Sheer numbers of human beings don't necessarily have the heaviest impact on the environment; instead, environmental impact is a calculation that involves population, affluence and technology, the report said.

 

In the areas of land-use, water, biodiversity, forests, fisheries and aquatic resources, Americans are consuming more than they did in the past. The report found:

 

-- Each American occupies 20 percent more developed land -- housing, schools, shopping and roads -- than 20 years ago.

 

-- Each American uses three times as much water as the world average; over half the original wetlands in the United States have been lost, mainly due to urban and suburban development and agriculture.

 

-- Half the continental United States can no longer support its original vegetation; nearly 1,000 plant and animal species are listed by the U.S. government as endangered or threatened, with 85 percent of those due to habitat loss or alteration.

 

-- The United States consumes nearly 25 percent of the world's energy, though it has only 5 percent of the world's population, and has the highest per capita oil consumption worldwide.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-10-02T144424Z_01_N29247528_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-POPULATION.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1

[Ganoderma]

Those numbers are probably going to change but it would probably be because asia will start consuming more than the americas pretty soon... In my opinion, if you want to have something more eficient and clean invest in preventing the problem (especially out here in developing asia) and less on fixing what we, north americans, have already screwed up. China, japan, korea, thailand/vietnam/laos area, the whole indonesia/malaysia area india etc. We are going to pollute WAY more than the americans could dream of if nothing is done to prevent such carelessness.

 

It should also be pointed out that us canadians are also extremely wastefull and dirty. If you take population into account i am sure in many areas we are worse than the yanks :shrug:

[Zythryn]

An interesting developement I have seen in some reports is high efficiency villages being built in China. These villages are built using locally available materials where possible. Renewable energy including solar power is used as well to minimize the power needed from coal plants.

From what I saw this was an isolated village, probably a trial run to see how well this works. Hopefully it will catch on:)

[Zythryn]

I believe this is one of the Chinese organizations involved: http://www.ndrcredp.com/english/. Couldn't get much information so I am not sure if solar is catching on in China any better than it is here in the USA.