Do we ever learn?
More than 100,000 people have moved into Atlanta each year since 2000. So, none of us who live here should be surprised that our main source of water is drying up. Everything and everyone is being blamed: politics, the lack of rainfall, the Army Corps of Engineers, mussels, shrinking reservoirs and Alabama (When all else fails, blame the state next to you.)
One thing is clear, though, the handwriting on the wall: Hey, Atlanta, it’s a good thing you like drinking Coke, because that’s all you’re gonna have to wash down your dinner if you don’t deal with your water problems. You might think that flirting with a natural resource disaster will mean Atlantans will change their water consumption habits, but a recent study released last month by CIBC World Markets indicates that our series of energy crises over the past several decades have taught us nothing. The study notes that despite a raft of legislation and more energy-efficient products, consumption rates have continued to rise.
For example, today’s cars’ average mileage per gallon has improved by nearly 30 percent since the models produced in 1980, but those gains have been offset by the 45 percent increase in the number of light trucks (including sport utility vehicles, vans and pick-ups) purchased by Americans between 1995 and 2005. In fact, more than 80 percent of total new vehicle registrations since the early 1980s have been light trucks, which, on average, get 25 percent worse fuel mileage than a car.
The engineering of more efficient appliances has significantly decreased those units’ energy consumption, too. Since 1990, air conditioning systems alone have become 17 percent more efficient. However, the number of air conditioning units purchased has risen by 36 percent during that time. Why? Americans are building larger homes and buying more than one unit to cool them. Today’s refrigerators follow the same storyline. Their energy efficiency has improved by about 10 percent, but the number of refrigerators in operation is up 20 percent.
It’s ironic that we believe we are solving our energy problems when we buy fuel-efficient cars or air conditioners. The same is true when we think we are helping reduce solid waste when we recycle. Yes, we recycle about 30 percent of our garbage, but we haven’t reduced the amount of waste we produce each day, and worse, we are creating twice as much garbage per person today than we were in 1960, when recycling was, at best, the job of the scrap dealer.
Rather than recognizing that we are only taking the first step in addressing our energy, water or solid waste problems when we buy an energy-efficient appliance or fuel-efficient car or recycle our garbage, we give ourselves a pass so we can continue to indulge in our favorite addiction: consumption. And, unless we address the water consumption problem here in Atlanta soon, we’ll be so far up the creek that even a paddle wouldn’t help.