The American Way Of Life

Sir, In his excellent piece entitled "To the victors the oil" (Weekend, November 17th), Eddie Holt writes that "it is undeniably…

Sir, In his excellent piece entitled "To the victors the oil" (Weekend, November 17th), Eddie Holt writes that "it is undeniably true that the US consumes a hugely disproportionate amount of the Earth's resources".

The US has less than 5 per cent of the planet's population but consumes an estimated 30 per cent of its resources. If China, with about four times the population of the US, were to adopt the same model, it would consume all of the Earth's resources, leaving nothing for the US or any other country.

This illustrates the outrageously disproportionate share of the world's resources consumed by the US. Yet we still persist in trying to emulate this unjust and unworkable model. - Yours, etc

Myles Crowe, Old Brewery Lane, Clonakilty, Co Cork.