Is American dream a Chinese nightmare?

• Position: Natural Resources - Chinese consumers functioning on an American model

"For China's 1,300,000,000 people, the American dream is fast becoming the Chinese dream," says Lester R. Brown, president of Earth Policy Institute, Washington, D.C. "Millions of Chinese are living like Americans--eating more meat, driving cars, traveling abroad, and otherwise spending their fast-rising incomes much as Americans do."

Total consumption in China of several basic commodities--including grain, meat, coal, and steel--has overtaken that of the U.S. Yet, what happens when projected income per person in China reaches the current U.S. levels in 2031 and its consumption per person of grain, oil, and steel does the same?

The answer is that China's grain consumption would be two-thirds of current world production. Its oil use of 99,000,000 barrels a day would exceed current global output of 79,000,000 barrels. Moreover, China would consume more steel than the entire Western industrialized world does today.

The fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered throwaway economy that evolved in the West will not work for this mighty Asian nation simply because there are not enough natural resources, Brown warns. Nor will it work for India or for the other 3,000,000,000 people...