Allow each group to make a brief presentation to the class, as described on the Group Discussions Questions handout. Guided Discussion Ask students to consider the following questions. Since mid-century, world population has doubled. Global economic output, which can be considered a measure of the amount of natural resources harvested and consumed, has increased fivefold. However, this increase in total consumption on a global level has not been linked with improved living conditions for most of the world's population.
Statistics indicate that the rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer.
This table shows the distribution of global income, comparing the proportion of income received by the world's wealthiest and poorest people. By 1989 that disparity expanded to a ratio of almost 60 to 1. Some experts consider this inequity to be at the root of many of our environmental problems. It leads to very high levels of consumption by those with the most of income and persistent poverty among those with the least income. Those who live at the ends of the income spectrum, rather than those in the middle of the spectrum, contribute the most to the world's environmental problems.