Apparently in terms of consumption, 3 isn't as magic a number as 32. For anyone interested in glimpsing just how interlinked the entire planet is read this interesting article about consumption factors. It might scare you, it might make you sad, but hopefully it will make you think, and hopefully it will make you act.

What's Your Consumption Factor?

By JARED DIAMOND
Published: January 2, 2008
Los Angeles

TO mathematicians, 32 is an interesting number: it's 2 raised to the fifth power, 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2. To economists, 32 is even more special, because it measures the difference in lifestyles between the first world and the developing world. The average rates at which people consume resources like oil and metals, and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, are about 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world. That factor of 32 has big consequences.
Read the full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02diamond.html?_r=1&ref=opinio...