Opinion

Save the Earth, buy less

China will over take the United States next year to become the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. China and the United States together emit 40 percent of the planet's carbon dioxide, according to the International Energy Agency. It is clear that leadership, not finger-pointing, is required from both of these nations if the global community is to deal successfully with the challenge of climate change.

China points to the fact that each American is responsible for generating six times more carbon dioxide than the average Chinese citizen, (24.5 tons to 3.9 tons, respectively). Washington, for its part, refuses to take action until China agrees to binding emissions reduction targets, while Beijing claims that the culprits are the developed nations, which have no right to deny economic growth to others. Apportioning blame is of little use. What is important is to resolve this climate stalemate.

The White House likes to remind our global neighbors that the United States is the only remaining superpower. But China is catching up quickly. The market-based reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping and cemented into place by each successive Chinese leader have led to 10 percent annual economic growth. Goldman Sachs projects that by 2027 the Chinese economy will be larger than that of the United States.

China's growth, however, is powered by America's demand for consumer products -- and this growth is fueled by coal. These two factors lie at the heart of the political impasse. China and the United States each worry that if they agree to binding greenhouse-gas reduction targets, their respective house of economic cards will collapse. This unhealthy symbiotic relationship needs to be unraveled if any global post-Kyoto global warming agreement is to be reached.

The high rate of consumer spending over the past several years is credited with keeping the U.S. economy afloat, but it didn't come without consequences. The products we buy have an enormous impact on the climate, and represent the hidden cost of our consumer lifestyle. Each TV, cell phone, kitchen appliance -- in fact every consumer item we buy from China (or elsewhere) -- creates greenhouse-gas emissions to produce and transport.

Americans have become deeply addicted to consuming. If it's cool, if it's trendy, if it's shiny and new, we buy it. As a consequence, we are running up ever-higher levels of debt in order to have a lifestyle beyond our financial means and beyond the ability of the Earth to sustain it. Americans spent $42 billion more than they earned last year, turning the annual U.S. savings ratio negative for the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

If the United States imports less, China's gross domestic product growth will slow. This would accomplish Beijing's goal of cooling down the overheated Chinese economy, and the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's desire to put U.S. savings in the black. Reducing economic reliance on China's production and our consumption, however, can only be achieved by buying less.

In America, consumer spending drives a full 70 percent of our economy. This is significantly higher than any Western European country. Norway, consistently ranked by the United Nations as the best country in which to live, spends only 43 percent of its GDP on stuff. So buying less can bring rewards by helping get us out of debt, removing the need for more self-storage units and reducing our impact on the planet.

China, for its part, needs to meet us halfway by using available technologies to manufacture products more efficiently (i.e., expending less energy per dollar of product) and to move its national energy mix away from coal-fired generation.

So the next time you think about going into debt to be able to buy your third plasma TV, a new massaging recliner, or when you are about to dump your Blackberry for an iPhone, think of the economic and environmental benefits of buying less.