It is often said these days that the planet cannot bear the burden of everyone in the developing world owning as many cars, refrigerators, and other consumer goods as Americans, Europeans, or Japanese on average do. From the standpoint of global justice and equality, however, the solution cannot be a system of consumer apartheid that upholds western binge habits but denies the poor a decent standard of living. Instead, the rich need to curb their outsized material appetites.

Source: State of the World 2004

Some technology advocates do not actually come out and say it, but they strongly imply that advances in technology will solve our environmental problems, and that we in the developed world can continue to lead our lives of relative luxury. But they ignore the fact pointed out in the quote above: Considering the environmental damage that the developed North is inflicting on the planet, imagine what will happen when China and India, which together account for over 30% of the world's population, develop a middle-class. They aspire to a consumer lifestyle currently held up by the North -- and particularly the U.S. -- as the model for a modern society.

The planet cannot support over six billion inhabitants who live as those of us in the North live today; one study estimates that the Earth could support two billion people with a middle-class European lifestyle. If the long-term goal is that every human being has a similar standard of living -- and if we believe in global equality then that must be our goal -- then we need to re-think what it means to "live the good life," and to agree on a definition that is within the reach of everyone.