Intensity Of Human Environmental Impact May \/ As Incomes /\
Posted: Tue 26 Aug 2008, 22:28:55
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Intensity Of Human Environmental Impact May Lessen As Incomes Rise, Analysis Suggests
ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2008) — The richer you are, the more of the world’s resources you can afford to consume. But in many parts of the world, rising incomes are not having the proportionate effect on energy consumption, croplands and deforestation that one might expect, a new 25-year study shows.
By examining a variety of government and industry data spanning 1980 to 2006, Rockefeller University’s Jesse Ausubel and his colleagues say that dematerialization — the declining consumption of energy and goods in comparison to a country’s gross domestic product — is actually driving a trend toward rising environmental quality. The results are published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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