With Christmas edging closer and closer, the dreaded task of finding that perfect present for the person in your life who “has it all” could now be solved (if you have an astronomic budget, that is).
Luxury retailers Neiman Marcus are now offering some pretty “ultra presents” in their 2006 holiday catalogue – one being a personal space tour where your loved ones can enjoy the feeling of zero-gravity and take in amazing views of earth from the Virgin Galactic Space Ship.
For a cool $1.6 M, this space trip will accomodate 6 people and includes a slew of perks like medical assessments, training, and to cap off the unforgettable experience, an after-flight party at Richard Branson’s privale isle.
If a trip to outer space is out of your league, there are still some stylish options like $25 crystal bells, $350 cashmere sweaters and a $100,000 water park for your garden (the kids will make you a god for that one). And for Fido? How about a $7,000 hancrafted luxury Italian pet home complete with leather armchair?
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Sometime this month, the 300th Million American will be born, bringing the United States up to the 3rd largest poulation in the world behind China and India.
The US Census Department reported that this milestone to come mid-October marks 39 years after the population reached 200 million.
But pundits believe that this enormous growth is a worrying factor for the already endangered environment because the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world to reach those population heights – the rest are poor or underdeveloped nations. Why? Victoria Markham, who wrote the report explains:
“In combination with our very high rates of natural resource consumption and the associated pollution, that results in America having the highest per capita environmental impact in the world”
Its not the number of people that matter here, but the lifestyle of the affluent – who obviously consume more power, more waste, more land, more food and so on. Ready for more scary facts? Here’s what else the startling report had to say on how more Americans could affect the rest of the world:
1. Each American occupies 20 percent more developed land — housing, schools, shopping and roads — than 20 years ago.
2. Each American uses three times as much water as the world average; over half the original wetlands in the United States have been lost, mainly due to urban and suburban development and agriculture.
3. Half the continental United States can no longer support its original vegetation; nearly 1,000 plant and animal species are listed by the U.S. government as endangered or threatened, with 85 percent of those due to habitat loss or alteration.
4. The United States consumes nearly 25 percent of the world’s energy, though it has only 5 percent of the world’s population, and has the highest per capita oil consumption worldwide.
5. Each American produces about 5 pounds (2.3 kilogram) of trash a day, up from about 3 pounds (1.4 kilogram) in 1960; the current rate is about five times that in developing countries.
