THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE SPECIAL FOCUS: The Consumer Society STATESTATE OFOF THETHE WORLDWORLD 20o4 ErikErik AssadourianAssadourian ChristopherChristopher FlavinFlavin HilaryHilary FrenchFrench GaryGary GardnerGardner BrianBrian HalweilHalweil LisaLisa MastnyMastny DanielleDanielle NierenbergNierenberg SandraSandra PostelPostel MichaelMichael RennerRenner RadhikaRadhika SarinSarin JanetJanet SawinSawin LindaLinda StarkeStarke AmyAmy VickersVickers 20o4 STATE OF THE WORLD Other Norton/Worldwatch Books State of the World 1984 through 2003 (an annual report on progress toward a sustainable society) Vital Signs 1992 through 2003 (an annual report on the trends that are shaping our future) Saving the Planet Power Surge Life Out of Bounds Lester R. Brown Christopher Flavin Chris Bright Christopher Flavin Nicholas Lenssen Sandra Postel Beyond Malthus Who Will Feed China? Lester R. Brown How Much Is Enough? Lester R. Brown Gary Gardner Alan Thein Durning Brian Halweil Tough Choices Last Oasis Lester R. Brown Pillar of Sand Sandra Postel Sandra Postel Fighting for Survival Full House Michael Renner Vanishing Borders Lester R. Brown Hilary French Hal Kane The Natural Wealth of Nations David Malin Roodman STATE OF THE WORLD20o4 A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society Brian Halweil and Lisa Mastny, Project Directors Erik Assadourian Christopher Flavin Hilary French Gary Gardner Danielle Nierenberg Sandra Postel Michael Renner Radhika Sarin Janet Sawin Amy Vickers Linda Starke, Editor W . W . NORTON & COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON Copyright © 2004 by Worldwatch Institute 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 www.worldwatch.org All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. The STATEOFTHEWORLD and WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE trademarks are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Worldwatch Institute; of its directors, officers, or staff; or of its funders. The text of this book is composed in Galliard, with the display set in Gill Sans. Book design by Elizabeth Doherty; cover design by Lyle Rosbotham; composition by Worldwatch Institute; manufacturing by Phoenix Color Corp. First Edition ISBN 0-393-05860-3 ISBN 0-393-32539-3 (pbk) W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110 www.wwnorton.com W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 This book is printed on recycled paper. Worldwatch Institute Board of Directors Øystein Dahle Cathy Crain Akio Morishima Chairman UNITED STATES JAPAN NORWAY James Dehlsen Izaak van Melle Larry Minear UNITED STATES THE NETHERLANDS Secretary UNITED STATES Christopher Flavin Wren Wirth UNITED STATES UNITED STATES Thomas Crain Treasurer Lynne Gallagher James Lee Witt UNITED STATES UNITED STATES UNITED STATES Geeta B. Aiyer Satu Hassi Emeritus: UNITED STATES FINLAND Abderrahman Khene ALGERIA Adam Albright John McBride UNITED STATES UNITED STATES Worldwatch Institute Staff Erik Assadourian Hilary French Elizabeth A. Nolan Staff Researcher Director, Global Vice President for Business Governance Project Development Ed Ayres Editorial Director Gary Gardner Kevin Parker Editor, World Watch Director of Research Director of Foundation Relations Chris Bright Joseph Gravely Senior Researcher Mail & Publications Tom Prugh Fulfillment Senior Editor Lori A. Brown Research Librarian Brian Halweil Mary Redfern Senior Researcher Development Associate Steve Conklin Webmaster John Holman Michael Renner Director of Development Senior Researcher Cyndi Cramer Development Associate Susanne Martikke Lyle Rosbotham Communications Associate Art Director Katherine Dirks Executive Assistant Lisa Mastny Radhika Sarin to the President Research Associate Staff Researcher Barbara Fallin Anne Platt McGinn Janet Sawin Director of Finance and Senior Researcher Research Associate Administration Leanne Mitchell Patrick Settle Susan Finkelpearl Director of IT Systems Administrator Media Coordinator Communications Molly O’Meara Sheehan Christopher Flavin Danielle Nierenberg Senior Researcher President Staff Researcher Acknowledgments This twenty-first edition of State of the World mitment to Worldwatch and its efforts to draws on the dedication and hard work of contribute to a sustainable world. We are every member of the talented Worldwatch particularly indebted to the Worldwatch staff. Backed by the generous support of Council of Sponsors—Adam and Rachel Board members, funders, and friends, the Albright, Tom and Cathy Crain, John and Institute’s researchers, editors, marketers, Laurie McBride, and Wren and Tim Wirth— communications specialists, librarians, interns, who have consistently shown their confidence and administrative staff all deserve our sincere and support of our work with generous thanks for their contributions to this year’s annual contributions of $50,000 or more. special report on the consumer society. For this 2004 edition of State of the World, We begin by acknowledging the founda- the Institute drew on the talents of an tion community, whose faithful backing sus- unprecedented number of outside authors, tains and encourages the Institute’s work. putting into action our strategic goal of The Overbrook Foundation and the Merck strengthening ties with leading thinkers and Family Fund awarded grants specifically for practitioners in the field of sustainability. San- our consumption efforts. We also would like dra Postel, a Worldwatch Senior Fellow and to acknowledge several other funders who director of the Global Water Policy Project, generously support Worldwatch: the Aria and Amy Vickers, award-winning author, Foundation, the Richard & Rhoda Gold- engineer, and water conservation specialist, man Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett wrote the chapter on water productivity. We Foundation, The Frances Lear Founda- are also delighted to include contributions tion, the NIB Foundation, the V. Kann Ras- from consumption experts Isabella Marras, mussen Foundation, the A. Frank and Solange Montillaud-Joyel, and Guido Son- Dorothy B. Rothschild Fund, The Shared nemann of the U.N. Environment Pro- Earth Foundation, The Shenandoah Foun- gramme; William McDonough and Michael dation, Turner Foundation, Inc., the U.N. Braungart of McDonough Braungart Design Environment Programme, the Wallace Global Chemistry; Paul McRandle and Mindy Pen- Fund, the Weeden Foundation, and The nybacker of the Green Guide Institute; Juliet Winslow Foundation. Schor of Boston College; and David Tilford In addition, we give thanks to the Insti- of the Center for a New American Dream. tute’s individual donors, including the 3,500+ Chapter authors are grateful too for the Friends of Worldwatch, who with their enthu- enthusiasm and dedication of the 2003 team siasm have demonstrated their strong com- of interns, who doggedly pursued elusive vii State of the World 2004 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS facts and produced graphs, tables, and text well as for the information many people pro- boxes. Clayton Adams cheerfully extended his vided, we are particularly grateful to: Abe stay with us to locate information for Chap- Agulto, Mark Anielski, Michael Appelby, Matt ters 4, 6, and 7; Zoë Chafe contributed Bentley, William Browning, David Brubaker, invaluable research assistance for both Chap- William Cain, Scot Case, Maurie Cohen, ter 7 and the “Year in Review” timeline; Dwight Collins, John de Graaf, Bas de Leeuw, Claudia Meulenberg graciously juggled end- Ed Diener, Chad Dobson, John Ehrenfeld, less requests for help with Chapter 1; Shawn Andrea Fava, Tom Ferguson, Bette Fishbein, Powers tenaciously gathered information for David Fridley, Bruce Friedrich, Sakiko Chapters 1, 3, and 5; and Anand Rao and Fukuda-Parr, Howard Geller, Gerard Gleason, Tawni Tidwell enriched Chapter 2 with their Edward Groth III, Kirsty Hamilton, Mar- solid knowledge of global energy trends. lene Hendrickson, Rich Howarth, Bobby Highly capable and good-natured, each was Inocencio, Daniel Katz, Jonathan Louie, a stimulating addition to our staff this past Philip Lymbery, Mia Macdonald, Michael summer and autumn. Marx, Jim Mason, William Moomaw, Rosa The immense job of tracking down articles, Moreno, Nick Parrott, Enrique Peñalosa, journals, and books from all around the world David Pimentel, Robert Prescott-Allen, Lynn fell to Research Librarian Lori Brown. In Price, Howard Rappaport, Richard Reyn- addition to keeping researchers up to date on nells, John Rodwan, Hiroyuki Sato, Hans the latest issues in their fields, she drew on her Schiere, Lee Schipper, Robert Schubert, Paul remarkable knack for gathering information Shapiro, Ted Smith, Freyr Sverrisson, Joel to assemble this year’s “Year in Review” time- Swisher, Ted Trainer, Arthur Weissman, Eric line of significant global events. Williams, Paul Willis, and David Wood. In After the initial research and writing were addition, we thank Norman Myers of Oxford completed, an internal review process by University, coauthor of the forthcoming book Worldwatch staff members helped ensure The New Consumers: Rich Lives or Richer that we would communicate our findings as Lifestyles?, for steering us toward a new under- clearly and accurately as possible. At August’s standing of consumers in the world. day-long meeting, chapter authors were chal- Further refinement of each chapter took lenged, complimented, and critiqued by place under the careful eye of independent interns, magazine staff, and other reviewers. editor Linda Starke, whose 27 years of expe-