Why Everything is BIG in America?????

Friends, We all have been saying for a long time that “Size does matter” but have we over-stated the definition of size?

“Why everything is BIG in America” be it cars, SUVs, food items, fast food meals, houses and of course people. I am from a country where more than quarter of the population lives under poverty. They don’t even earn a Dollar a day and still there are people around the world who say that they are not satisfied with the size of products they are getting. We can relate the effect of all the BIG things to Global Warming either directly or indirectly.

In America, bigness is a reflection or expression of narcissism, the exaggerated tendency towards grandiosity. The narcissism has led to unreality – to the feeling that somehow Americans are entitled to be number one among the nations of the world at the expense of mankind.

I am not here to blame anyone or any country for wrong doings for affecting the eco-system on Earth but it’s an eye opener for people who are un-aware of the fact that the life they are living can drastically effect the future generations.

In the words of William Ruckelshaus former EPA Administrator who said them a decade ago:

“The most significant threats to our environment now seem to lie, not with major industrial sites, but in the habits of ordinary Americans: we like to drive big powerful cars, use a lot of electricity, generate a lot of waste, enjoy cheap food, live in grassy suburbs, and collectively send pollution in massive amounts to often distant waterways and air sheds. Each one of us pollutes “when we drive our cars, fertilize and mow our yards, pour household chemicals on the ground or down the drain, and engage in myriad other common activities. Although each activity contributes minute amounts of pollutants, when aggregated across millions of individuals, the total amounts are stunning. The result is that while industrial sources continue to be a major cause of pollution, individuals are now the largest remaining source of many pollutants.”

 

The need of an hour is change in personal environmental behaviors, especially “those linked to Western cultural values such as independence, freedom, social mobility, or security”. Equally difficult is doing this in a society where messages about conservation behaviors compete with an overwhelming number of advertisements for consumptive actions that promise economic viability, status, and pleasure.

Let me know your thoughts. What do you say and feel about this? Or send me your thoughts directly to anitarora@gmail.com