SUSTAINABILITY AND OVERCONSUMPTION
1) The text, from a web site entitled overpopulation.com, raises the issues
of overpopulation, overconsumption and the supply of resources. The
higher the world population, the more resources they will consume
(Food and agricultural produce, commodities and metal ores, energy,
coal, oil natural gas...). So with the increase in population, there is a
smaller share of the world resources for each of its inhabitants. There is
a possibility that resources might be depleted/ of a depletion of
resources.
2) Resources are not equally shared. The most developed countries use a
disproportionate share of world resources as their inhabitants are used
to having a high standard of living and are reluctant to give it up. But in
the last decades, they have made efforts to consume less (e.g. energy )
without decreasing the quality of life. But the problem of
overconsumption remains: if all the countries consumed as many
resources as the US, there would not be enough, and it might lead to
conflicts.
3) Over the past decades, the population of developing countries has
increased exponentially, whereas it has stabilised in rich countries. So,
they consume a lot more than they used to with smaller populations in
the past. Furthermore, emerging countries such as China have
industrialised at a tremendous rate, so use more and more resources
and pollute more and more as their standards are not up to scratch.
China is now the greatest emitter of carbon dioxide as it burns coal to
produce electricity.
4) The text suggests that poor countries should improve their economy
and the quality of life of their populations. For that, they must first
reduce their population growth and fertility rates. When living
standards rise, and the level of education of girls improves, fertility
rates drop as women can choose how many children they want.
According to the text, we need to narrow the wealth gap between rich
and poor countries.
BE AN ADDICT
5) The main character of the story is at work in her office overlooking
Oxford Street in London. So she lives in Great Britain as the sums
mentioned in pounds ( £200) show as well. She has just received her
VISA bill and is scared to open the envelope for fear of what she might
read on the bill. She is trying to reassure herself by imagining it won’t
be too high.
6) She read a story in a newspaper that credit card bills had been sent to
the wrong persons and that they had paid without checking them. So
she hopes the same story will happen to her and that an old lady in
Cornwall will pay her huge without questioning it (doubtful if she only
bought a few tins of cat food) while she will receive a much lower one
which was meant for the old lady.
7) When she opens the envelope, she gets a shock because her dream has
not come true and the bill is much higher than the high bill she
expected. There is a whole list of shops she has been to that look like
the one of a shopping centre. She can’t believe she has spent so much
money, she thinks it must be a mistake. It shows that, as the title
implies, she is a shopaholic, she is addicted to shopping, she can’t help
shopping and it makes her life happier. She went on e spending spree
and did not even realise how much she was spending.
8) Both texts deal with overconsumption. The first document is from the
web site of an organisation called overpopulation.com deals with the
issue of consumption of resources all over the world, the economic
impact of the growth in the world population on the resources
available. The second one is an extract from a novel entitled
Confessions of a Shopaholic and deals with the personal problem of the
main character who is addicted to shopping and consequently receives
huge credit card bills and gets into debt.