Vital Signs 2000: The Environmental Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

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SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUITIES

IMPEDING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

May 27, 2000

Inequalities of wealth, power, opportunities, and survival prospects

among the world's peoples are confounding efforts to reverse

environmental degradation, reports a new study by the Worldwatch

Institute, Vital Signs 2000: The Environmental Trends That Are Shaping

Our Future.

" From the global digital divide to the devastating AIDS and

tuberculosis epidemics, the trends in Vital Signs 2000 are exposing

numerous fault lines between the North and the South, within nations,

and between men and women, " said Worldwatch Senior Researcher

Renner, co-author of the report. " At the same time, however, we need

an unprecedented level of cooperation to solve global problems. "

Although the world economy pumped out nearly $41 trillion of goods

and services in 1999, 45 percent of the income went to the 12 percent

of the world's people who live in western industrial countries. " This

wealthy minority is largely responsible for the excessive consumption

that drives environmental decline, " said co-author Molly O. Sheehan,

Worldwatch Research Associate. For example, per capita paper use in

industrial nations is 9 times higher than in developing countries. The

number of cars per person is about 100 times higher in North America,

Western Europe, and Japan than in India or China, according to Vital

Signs.

" The disparities between rich and poor are equally striking in the

digital world, " said Sheehan. " Although Internet access is growing

rapidly in the developing world, some 87 percent of all Internet users

live in industrial countries. Fewer than 1 percent of the people in

China, India, or the continent of Africa are online. "

But even the richest nations cannot insulate themselves from emerging

global threats. The resurgence in tuberculosis (TB) may kill an

additional 70 million people by 2020. A catastrophic decline in

amphibians is wiping out a rich source for new medicines. The warming

atmosphere has spurred more severe weather events, including the

December 1999 storms that caused nearly $10 billion in damage in parts

of Europe.

Vital Signs 2000 also highlights several encouraging trends in

renewable energy and efficiency technologies. For instance, 1999 saw

wind power, the world's fastest-growing energy source, surge by 39

percent, production of solar cells expand by 30 percent, and sales of

energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) grow by a robust 11

percent. As these energy alternatives are scaled up and take root in

developing countries as well, they will make a serious dent in carbon

output and help stabilize the climate.

Translations: Vital Signs 2000 is also being published in Brazil,

China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain (Catalan), and the U.K.

For more information on our foreign publishers, go to:

http://www.worldwatch.org/foreign/index.html

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and development trends.