Time to be more Earth-Friendly

Being green is all the rage these days. Both Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain (What is the point of still considering Hillary a candidate anymore?) over the weekend addressed why as human beings we need to be more friendly to the Earth.

McCain wasn't the only one slamming the Bush Administration for not doing enough about the environment. Even India is now getting into the act.

From The New York Times:

Pradeep S. Mehta, secretary general of the center for international trade, economics and the environment of CUTS International, an independent research institute based here, said that if Americans slimmed down to the weight of middle-class Indians, “many hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa would find food on their plates.”

He added, archly, that the money spent in the United States on liposuction to get rid of fat from excess consumption could be funneled to feed famine victims...

In response to [Bush's] remarks, a ranking official in the commerce ministry, Jairam Ramesh, told the Press Trust of India, “George Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economics,” and the remarks proved again how “comprehensively wrong” he is...

Indians from the prime minister’s office on down frequently point out that per capita, India uses far lower quantities of commodities and pollutes far less than nations in the West, particularly the United States.

New York Times food critic Mark Bittman gave an insightful talk last year at the 2007 TED conference on what is really wrong with the food we eat and other lifestyle choices that affect the environment.