Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Factor de Consumo
Factor de Consumo
Names:
Sofia Prada Guzmn.
Johan Sebastin Agudelo Chibuque.
Juan Pablo Rodrguez Pineda.
1.
The consumption factor is defined in the article as a sum of all local consumptions and with this sum; we
can get the total world consumption. To calculate a local consumption value we have to multiply the
number of population and the local per capita consumption rate.
2.
The consumption factor is measured according to several factors like the amount of things that people
buy, the natural resources exploitation and pollution levels in a specific country or city, the alternative
energies implemented in cities and the consumption habits in societies.
3.
Consumption is more problematic because the consumption factor doesnt depend on the number of
people living in a place. It depends on the economies, ideologies and politics present in a country. Also,
the consumption habits are the main problem because people buy a lot of things that are useless or things
that were designed to be obsolete in a short time. If we do a comparison between USA and Kenya we can
realized that consumption rates are very different because a North American consumes 32 times that a
Kenyan consumes. We can see in the example an abysmal difference between these countries. USA is
exploiting the world natural resources without sustainability and developing countries are the main
affected because they own natural resources but they dont have a high economy, so the first-world
countries take advantage of the necessities and they enjoy of the resources of the other countries.
Population growing doesnt affect directly because all depends in the ideology and way of thinking in a
country, where people can buy just necessary things and dont waste money buying everything that
appears in television.
4.
What do you think about the idea that poor or emerging economies have the right to grow and get
richer no matter what the consumption of (natural) resources involved?
That idea is completely wrong. Poor and emerging economies have to find a way to grow up and advance,
but they dont have the right to destroy natural resources to achieve a high economy. They have to find
alternatives solutions that supply their economies and the environment at the same time. On the other
hand, the consumption rates in first-world have to decrease because this kind of economy is untenable.
Probably, many of people in first-world disagree in reduce their consumption levels but one day, they won
t have choice because all natural resources in the world are being contaminated, exploited and destroyed.
We have to change our way of thinking and start to do something now! We can wait until all natural
resources get destroyed to change our habits. We have many solutions that we dont use yet like
recycling. Its true that recycling wont fix all the damaged that we have done but it contributes to reduce
pollution in a considerable way. As a chemical engineers we have to think in sustainable processes that
allow supply the human being needs and at the same time protect and care the environment.