OK - if your going to go so far as to think the UN is an "unbiased" source of data - your arguement is already flawed. The UN is a political organization, and as such, has a power structure that is out to pull down any other power there is. The US - being the lone superpower in the world, and an outspoken critic (both with words and manpower) of situations in the world, has earned the ire of that political body.
So quoting data from an organization that wants America to "shut up, sit down and open your wallet" is not going to go very far unless it is corroborated with data from more objective sources.
The World Health Organization post you made proves that it is neither informed, nor objective.
Quote:
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Don't ask: "Hey guys, why not give up all those hummers that are heating up the planet?"
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Lets see - the latest DOT info on record I could find after a quick search dated from 2004 - so they are a bit old - but not terribly so. Lets take a look at what it showed us, shall we?
The resident population - 294 Million
The number of licensed drivers - 199 Million
Number of vehicles - 237 Million
So first off - nearly one third of the population is/was either walking - or carpooling in some fashion. That's a pretty good number in any society. Only 1 out of 5 drivers on average had more than one vehicle that they owned - meaning 4 out of 5 people were "evilly consuming" only one vehicle that is a necessity to do things like go to work or get food. Funny, the "consumerism" bias makes it sound like all Americans are and were living "high on the hog" - when the data shows that the vast majority were consuming only what is necessary. One more fact that shows that far away, uninformed picture is untrue - though I doubt it will matter to those who have no place for truth in their world view.
Oh - as for "when are we giving up our hummers" - the Hummer brand sold a grand total of 27,485 vehicles in 2008. In the first nine months of 2009, it was a mere 8,193 - so the total for 2009 will likely be under 10,000. The total number of vehicles sold in the US in 2008? Roughly 13.2 Million total.
So the total "hummer" sales equated to all of .2 percent of of vehicle sales in the US. Most rational people would say that the numbers from 2008 - and the further drastic reduction seen in 2009 would indicate that the US already HAD given up its hummers - when the question was asked. But the question wasn't asked from a basis of fact - it was a question asked with the purpose of inflaming those with an already formed idea, because nothing gets someone going when you feed their view, regardless of whether or not its an intellectually honest question or not.
Sorry - but this alone demonstrates that the W.H.O. is simply not unbiased.
It also shows that this "American just consume more than their share" can be proven to not be the case - at least in the matter of vehicle ownership. When 1 out of 3 americans do not own a vehicle - and 4 out of 5 that do only own one, I fail to see how we somehow are consuming so much more than everyone else - except maybe third world countries.
Links follow.
2004 Federal data:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs04/htm/dlchrt.htm
Total US vehicle sales for 2008:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs04/htm/dlchrt.htm
Hummer Sales of 2008
http://ask.cars.com/2009/01/hummer-sales.html
Hummer sales in 2009
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchin...nt_8773950.htm