America's consumption culture

[heebyjeebus]

I looked at statistics concerning global oil production and consumption today; and needless to say, the US had the lion's share of the latter. Now I know it's a big place but I think Americans represent just around 8% of the global population, so how can this gross overuse of EVERYONES oil be justified? If we do run out of oil, the world would blame America, there's no doubt of that. But what I want to try and understand is what is the driving force behind this attitude of god-given superiority and covert fascism? Is it an offshoot of Manifest Destiny, that America somehow should inherit the whole planet? I believe Mr. Bush refers to it as patriotism. I read that Rumsfeld used to head up a think tank on how America's foreign policy should be chiefly to propagate the extent of the US' wealth and influence. I've seen my fair share of sweaty fat rednecks ranting and rambling about America's rightful domination of the world, backing it up with propaganda-distorted history lessons; but surely this group is a minority and is confined to the crappiest parts of America. So why not come to terms with the American Dream as the intellectual superiors of your nation?

My most important and pressing concern is whether or not this warped and frankly unnerving trend will be addressed if (crossed fingers) Kerry wins.

[qwertyMike]

1. 5%

[Jester_11218]

2. Nascar Americans

I have been saying for years that we take energy sources for granted. Imagine the value of oil, what is going on because of oil, and then think about the fact that we use oil for sport or recreation to the extent of driving cars 500 miles in a circle!

How much precious resource does 1 Nascar event consume? I should say waste!

We are a very primitive species and we are driving our planet to the brink of extinction.

[QC]

3. This "argument" was thoroughly hashed out a couple of months ago.

Frankly, NASCAR bores the shit out of me, but it accounts for a minuscule share of America's energy consumption. If you're interested in the real culprit, consider the lack of mass transit in most of the country and the refusal of most people even in the areas that have it to use it. It's a safe bet that one rush hour in L.A., Houston, Atlanta, etc. consumes more fuel than even Jeff Gordon could ever dream of.

And it's interesting how no one ever frets over the energy needed to maintain the nation's more than 16,000 golf courses, or to fly yuppies to Caribbean resorts, or to ferry millions of little Brytneighs, Meighans, and Dakotas to school in Escalades. I think the main complaint about NASCAR is that it is enjoyed mostly by the déclassé, and the crying over the waste of precious oil is a cover for that.

[cheezus]

5. it's akin to an eating contest

We're so confortable with our excess that we can make a game of wasting it.

[heebyjeebus]

7. My fault I'm new

Apologies QC I only joined 3 days ago, I'm sure it was quite an "argument". I used to live in Houston and I totally agree it's criminal. It's excess to ridiculous heights but it never seems to be addressed politically because (I think) American values are more consumer orientated than anywhere else in the world. I mean who needs a Hummer to go to the store? Shameful.

[QC]

10. Sorry--didn't mean to be so harsh.

That was a fairly ugly argument--quite a few threads and some pretty heated discussion, most of which revolved around how gauche and tacky "rednecks" are, so I jumped too quickly.

The oil and auto industries have spent seventy years building the car culture, so I think it will take some real hardship to change things. Unfortunately, the hardship will be limited to the working and middle class--the Hummer crowd can afford their vanity.

Speaking of car culture, Harry Crews said something interesting: "What kind of sense does it make for a 113 pound housewife to get in a 5,000 pound machine to drive three blocks for a 13-ounce loaf of bread?"

[el_gato]

9. Nothing wrong with bashing NASCAR, go fast, turn left, BORING

the dumbing down of America is reflected in the rise in popularity of nascar.

[taquinas101]

12. I Have To Agree w/ QC

I can't imagine that Nascar accounts for even 0.001 of oil consumed in the United States. I would not be surprised if the total gas consumed in one average day by the private Humvees in the United States exceeds the gas consumed in all of the Nascar events in the United states over an entire week.

[booksenkatz]

4. Funny that you mention Nascar

I was wondering recently what the end of oil will look like, and one specific thought I had was, at what point is Nascar called to a halt? When the supplies dwindle, and we are on our last drops, what will America look like? How will we respond?

[TO Kid]

6. Does NASCAR even use gasoline?

Not sure about it but F1 and CART use methanol for safety reasons (gasoline blows up too good).

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. No, Formula 1 uses petrol (ie gasoline)

"Formula One cars run on petrol, the specification of which is not that far removed from that used in regular road cars. Indeed, the FIA regulations state that the rules are “intended to ensure the use of fuels which are predominantly composed of compounds normally found in commercial fuels and to prohibit the use of specific power-boosting chemical compounds.”"

http://www.formula1.com/insight/rulesandregs/14/486.html

[Fear]

11. start investing in the future (or at least part of it)

http://www.shell.is/category.aspx?catID=275

http://www.hfcletter.com/letter/May03/features.html


Ow, and needless to say, nasa broke a speed record with hydrogen, the fastest airplane ever......hmmmmmmmm, fascinating eh?, and they always said hydrogen wouldn't have the power gasoline has......or was that just to make people build / buy cars that drive on gasoline?

suckersssss that bought an SUV!!!!!! whahahahahaha

[IrateCitizen]

13. The real ticking time bomb in all of this -- agriculture

Four crops in the US consume approximately 85% of agricultural investment: wheat, corn (grain corn, not the eating kind), soybeans and hay. Since none of these crops are readily edible, they all require further processing before they can be delivered for consumption.

With the increasing reliance on these four crops, accompanied by the fact that only 2% of all farmers are responsible for 35% of agricultural production, we have backed ourselves into a corner WRT agricultural practices.

The current model practiced in the United States uses approximately 10 calories of oil to produce one calorie of food. Yes, you heard that right -- 10 calories of oil for one calorie of food. Anyone even remotely familiar with natural systems can discern how ultimately destructive this kind of setup is. A simple rule in nature is that you don't put more energy into a system than you get out of it.

The question is, what happens when oil prices make this agricultural model untenable? We don't have a big alternative out there. I shudder for the future consequences of this shortsightedness in the name of greed. :scared:

[dpibel]

14. Yup

Don't ya just hate "amen" posts?

But the concentration on cars does miss the real point. Not being able to drive is an inconvenience that was somehow borne by humankind for all but the last hundred years of its existence--.001, even using a conservative estimate for the time of existence of modern humans.

Not being able to eat is, really, rather more than an inconvenience.

And of course all the attention paid to oil masks the matter of even greater concern: potable water which is, much to the surprise of most people, a limited resource, too. (Please, no one explain to me the wonders of desalination. That's energy-intensive, which gets us back to oil. No, the magic of solar is not likely to solve the problem. At least not before things reach crisis proportions with attendant wars and death.)

[IrateCitizen]

16. Since you brought up potable water...

Do you realize that approximately 70% of all freshwater in the world currently used by humans is put toward agricultural uses? When you consider that fact, add in the way that fertilizers and pesticides are indiscriminately used in most agricultural practices now, and that these chemical substances are eventually washed downstream into the oceans.

The result of this, coupled with overfishing, has been the creation of dead zones in the oceans. And if the oceans die, humanity's demise is not too far behind.

I often wish I had never sought to understand the complexities of how all of these things are linked together, because when you think about it, it's pretty damned hard to remain upbeat about the future -- especially considering the trajectory we're on now.

[Gregorian]

15. No. It won't be addressed.

It's the one sacred thing, like breeding, which absolutely cannot be mentioned. It's the unmentionable.

The way I see it-
Native Americans
Black and Chinese slaves
Post WW2

Once you have had warm showers, you will never take a cold one voluntarily.