jueves, 2 de mayo de 2013

Our share

This is one more exercise I did after going through all those databases from UN and other large institutions.

It is quite simple and by no means part of a serious research, is just a reflection on how much all humans produce and ideally how much each one of us could have if divided in equal parts.

It accounts only the "official" production, we need to bear in mind that small family crops e.g. for personal consumption are not included here.

Some may say that is an unrealistic thing to think of, and yes, it is virtually impossible to accomplish, but I wonder if could awake some part of our conscience and help us be more coherent with our context and reality. It is important to think that is not only the stuff we consume directly, it is also everything that is needed to produce the stuff we consume.

Some interesting things I could highlight: each one of us could have access to 1.33 square meters of gas, that is a large amount, we could do a lot with that. Coffee has zero nutritional value. Sugar, even if it contributes with a lot of calories they are not really that beneficial, turns out that nutrition is a bit more complicated that what it may seem.

The amount of CO2 relates to the amount each one of us would be responsible of if the current World generation was divided in equal parts, we all know that there are a lot of people that produces almost zero CO2 and others producing literally tons of it, the interesting challenge is how can the standards of living be raised for those on the bottom of the pyramid and maintained for those on the top without generating more CO2.