University of Virginia Library

Affluence For A Price

The affluence that Americans
now enjoy is being purchased at the
price of their environment. In his
lifetime, every person will pollute
3,000,000 gallons of water, and
industry will pollute ten times that
much in his behalf. His subdivisions
and urban sprawl will consume over
1,000,000 acres each year, and his
increasing demands upon agricultural
lands are resulting in soil
erosion of overgrazed lands, falling
water tables, and the spread of
deadly pesticides.

Mountains of discarded automobiles,
garbage, and junk now dot
the countryside, as Americans consume
more and more - led to
believe by Madison Avenue that a
better life can be found simply by
consuming more material objects.
In fact, the United States, with less
than fifteen percent of the world's
population, actually consumes over
one half of all the raw materials
produced in the world. How long
can this inequity continue?