It's easy for Guest to flame America, because that doesn't mean it (Guest, that is) has to change anything it is doing. It's up to US to change OUR behavior. Guest, rather than blame other people and accuse others of wrongdoing, why not look at what YOU are doing wrong, and work on fixing that? If we all worked on our own problems, either as individuals or as nations, the world would be a lot better off. When everybody starts pointing out the sins of others, then we get into judgmentalism and name-calling and nothing positive gets done.

The US of A has better anti-pollution laws than most smaller nations; the smaller nations pollute far worse, on a per capita basis, than the USA at this point in history. And trade agreements make it difficult or impossible for ecologically-conscious American firms to discriminate among their suppliers on the basis of pollution emission. Third world physician, heal thyself!

Global warming is a bugaboo. We know from geological evidence that the world gets colder and warmer and colder again in waves. We're just coming off an ice age. Hey, guess what? It's getting warmer! If the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere gets too large, the planet has mechanisms to deal with it (mostly clorophyll-bearing phytoplankton in the oceans).

Overpopulation is a bugaboo. There are huge tracts of land (if you'll excuse the expression) which COULD house human beings, but do not. Until all possible inhabitable land is full, the cry of overpopulation is a little hard to swallow. Statistically, you could fit the population of the whole world into Texas, and each "family" of 4 would get 1/4 acre.

By the way, if Americans use so many resources, it's because they PAY for them. This moves hard cash into poor countries, which desperately need it. If we were to stop "consuming" so much, who will take up the slack, and consume for us? Because if the persian rug goes unsold, the Persian who made it goes unpaid and his/her children go unfed.

And don't jump on me for being the fatcat uncaring gluttonous American. You don't know me and you don't know what part of my income I give to relieve suffering at home and abroad.

Tired of nonsense,
Alex