2.3 Ecological Issues Earth is currently the only planet we have access to that can substantially sustain life as we know it. Americans consume food, natural resources, and energy at a rate six times higher than the remainder of the world. Our consumption rate will increase if we continue to consume, emit, and dispose using our current processes. Two Standford University professors, Paul and Anne Ehrlich, demonstrate humanity’s negative impact on our own life-support systems and how it can be approximated utilizing the equation I=PAT. Impact = Population x Average consumption rate x Technology The hardest to calculate is “some measure of the technology (T) that services and drives the consumption. Thus, commuting in automobiles powered by subsidized fossil fuels on proliferating freeways creates a much greater T factor than commuting on bikes using simple paths or working at home on a computer network.� 6 The impact of living large has a significant ecological considering energy and building material consumption. Americans prefer to live at a consistent environmental comfort level; this increases the energy load on homes.
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