EnterMission - Rob Wegner: If Everyone On the Planet Lived Like Me

So, if you've been following along, you know I'm working my way through Brian's McLaren's new book where he identifies what he sees as the four greatest global crises and what Jesus might have to say about those crises.

Today, I want to sound off on the first one: The Prosperity Crises.

Prosperity is good. But, the crisis is this: We have developed an economy that is not sustainable. We suck more resources out than can be replenished. We create waste faster than it can be absorbed.

Concerning this crisis, I'm on my second reading of a book called Deep Economy (see my reading list on the sidebar) that has stopped me in my tracks. Let me give you the skinny on what I'm learning. I can't stop thinking about it.

For most of human history, say two thousand years before Christ right up to the beginning of the eighteenth century, there was no real increase in the standard of living of the average man on planet earth. Great economist John Maynard Keynes describes it this way, "Ups and downs, certainly visitations of plague, famine, and war, golden intervals, but no progressive violent change." (1)

Then, in the words of economist Jeffery Sachs, "The steam engine marked the decisive turning point of human history." (2)

Pretty much the only time I think about steam is when I hear the tea kettle whistling. I'd rather have coffee anyway. But, that little cloud of steam changed history and led to the Industrial Revolution.

Now, instead of having a hernia, men and woman could exploit the earth's storehouse of fossilized energy to do the pushing for them. This is a good thing! It's led to unbelievable leaps in the standard of living. Really, I'm glad I've got a lawn mower, a car, and stuff like that. Billions of people's lives have been elevated.

On the down side, one of the consequences of nearly three hundred years of rapid economic growth is that in the process the earth has paid a price: we've dug it up, eroded it away, and cut it down.

So, for centuries, more has been better and for billions today, more still would be better. They don't have what they need. (We'll tackle that when we get to the Poverty Crisis).

However, I'm realizing that my standard of living, that is fueled by these natural resources, is a lifestyle that can not be replicated by the rest of the developing world. In other words, if rest of the developing world lived at my current standard of living, it would so altar the planet that it might not be able to sustain life in the manner we now know.

Here's the question: If everyone on the planet lived like I did, what would happen?

If I just look at China, the given current rates of growth in China will result in another over 1 billion residents of China attaining a similar standard of living to me by the year 2031. What would that mean?

If they eat meat, milk, and eggs in same quantities as we do, they'll consume 1, 352 million tons of grain, or two-thirds of the worlds entire 2004 grain harvest.
They'd use 99 million barrels of oil a day. That's 20 million more barrels than the entire world uses at present.
If they uses the same amount of coal of the average US citizen, they would use 2.8 billions tons annually. That's more than the current world production of 2.5 billion tons.
Paper? At the American rate, they'd consume 303 million tons, roughly double the current world production.
Cars? They'd have 1.1 billion cars on the road, half again as many as the current world total. (3)

And that's just China. We're not including India whose economy is growing almost as fast.

My buddy just entered his data into one of the carbon footprint calculators on line and discovered the planet would have to be four and half times bigger in terms of natural resources for everyone to live at his current lifestyle.

I have to admit that I've never really thought about this deeply until recently. I've recycled and felt pretty good about it - thank you very much. :) But, I've never really grappled with the urgency and size of this problem until now. I've got to tell you it feels like I can do almost nothing to fix it.

But, as a follower of Jesus, I can't just look at my neighbors around the world and act like they don't exist.

In addition, being a steward of this world is fundamental to being a person made in the image of God.

This kind of knowledge is really messing with my head. So, Michelle and I are just beginning to process this and figure out our next steps. We're taking little steps for now. My new car gets about twice the mileage as my last one. There are lot's of ideas on where to start. Some of them make sense to me. Some of them seem silly. But, at this point, I'm committed to learning more and finding ways to live out the kingdom in this way.

I'd love to hear what your learning on this or what steps your taking....

(1) Keynes, Economic Possibilities for Our Grand Children, pg 1

(2) Sachs, End of Poverty, pg 41

(3) Lester Brown, Plan B2.0

Comments

Rob Bell and Matt Krick at Mars Hill Bible Church did a series "God is Green" this past summer. A great series, available as podcast. Helps give some ideas to step towards that 2000kg goal those website want.

Posted by: Ryan | October 10, 2007 at 01:48 AM

This has been a common conversation happening with some of my friends. Very thought provoking...frustrating...and motivating. I want to read that book!

Posted by: Amber Cox | October 10, 2007 at 08:48 AM