A new study found that the top 10% of households responsible for 40% of U.S. greenhouse ga

[hunter]

3. Hate to break it to you, but all affluent North Americans are 1%ers by global standards.

It's your standing among all 8 billion humans that matters, not your standing in the U.S.A. or any other wealthy nation.

It's almost impossible for an affluent person to reduce their environmental footprint. If they are not burning fossil fuels one way, they are burning them another every time they spend or invest their money.

The people with the smallest environmental footprints generally live in cities, don't own cars, don't eat much meat, and have very low incomes by North American standards.

Imagine some "head of household" living in Cairo, Mumbai, or any other similar megacity making $90 a month. They and the families they support have a very small environmental footprint.

Personally, the smallest environmental footprint I ever had was as a mentally ill dumpster diving homeless guy. It's not a lifestyle I'd ever advocate or hope to return to, but the possibility is always there in the back of my mind.

When my wife and I are in good health we are affluent. When we are not, random shit falling out of the sky, all hell breaks loose. (My wife once ran a COBRA health plan to the bitter end in the midst of chemo. Before Obamacare there were times we were both uninsurable.)

We all ought to be finding ways to lift everyone out of poverty on a global scale, ways that don't increase the demand for fossil fuels.

Blaming the 1%ers isn't helpful, especially when we are among them.



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