U.S., Canada Blasted For Excess Energy Use

Abstract

Supporting high standards of living in the U.S. and Canada uses up a disproportionate share of the world's natural resources and contributes to global climate change, concludes a report from the United Nations Environment Program. The two countries, with about 5% of the world's population, are responsible for 25.8% of global CO 2 emissions, according to the report. The report, North America's Environment: Thirty-Year State of the Environment and Policy Retrospective, says citizens in the two countries have a per-capita gasoline consumption that is nine times the global average. The U.S. and Canada have had notable success in a number of environmental areas, the report says. They have protected the ozone layer. They have controlled SO 2 emissions. They have set aside 11 to 13% of the region's land in protected areas. They have slowed wetland losses, stemmed emissions from point sources, and reduced pollution in the Great Lakes. But improvements have slowed, the report says. Energy ...