Think About It for A Minute

I was thinking today about consumerism and the way we acquire so much stuff. Our houses are bigger to store stuff, we buy storage buildings, have garages too full to put the car in there. We rent storage buildings, and we fill up our homes with more than we could ever use.

These are old statistics, but still very telling.... what if our priorities changed ?
And consider the following, reflecting world priorities:

Global Priority
$U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States 8 billion

Ice cream in Europe 11 billion

Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12 billion

Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17 billion

Business entertainment in Japan 35 billion

Cigarettes in Europe 50 billion

Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105 billion

Narcotics drugs in the world 400 billion

Military spending in the world 780 billion

And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

Global Priority
$U.S. Billions
Basic education for all 6 billion

Water and sanitation for all 9 billion

Reproductive health for all women 12 billion

Basic health and nutrition 13 billion

(Source: The state of human development, United National Development Report 1998, Chapter 1, p.37)