Have you ever stopped to think about what it means to be an American? To be able to go to church or become who you want to be and live your life the way you want not someone else’s. We sing the song I’m Proud to Be an American, but how many people actually show they are proud? Most Americans do not even know what it is like to not have freedom because they like where they are. This freedom we Americans take for granted is not the same for other countries. In some countries people are even told what they must wear out in public, they are also beaten and killed for things we do on a daily basis like go to school or eat what we want, when we want. Americans in some ways have the best lives of anybody on the planet and yet they care nothing of it.

People pollute the air; destroy what has been fought for us by our military, and break things for fun. Why do Americans do nothing for the world they live and exploit for its resources? If other countries lived like the U.S. does then we would need multiple earths to support everyone but as most of us know we only have one. Americans live their lives every day without a care in the world almost as if we live in a separate universe than any other country. Americans are very naive and don’t think about what effects their decisions have on the health of our planet. We don’t think about the effect that buying foreign made products has on the people of third world countries. When we buy toys or fine china ware or electronics, we are in an indirect way supporting the companies that force women and children to work for as much money as we spend on a coke for one day’s pay. This unending cycle is based on the consumer mindset of the American people. Is it not sad when people in America sometimes have problems with not only themselves being obese but their pets! If we as Americans would focus on the people that are starving in other countries rather than buying the new iPad or overfeeding our pets then the worlds hunger problem could be drastically reduced. Many people argue that we need to feed our own homeless people when most homeless in America make more money than the richer people in other countries.

Global warming is one of the most dismissed problems in my mind that actually needs addressing. We as Americans tend to bat an eye when global warming is brought up because we know that we are a major contributor to global warming. Soon if people don’t start changing the way they live then global warming will be one of the world’s biggest problems because other countries are starting to become developed just like the United States. In a way we are a role model for most countries in the world and that could be used in a good way such as teaching other countries about using clean energy or passing emission laws in other countries. Before this happens, we must change the way we live and change the way the country is run. One unknown fact that many people are oblivious to is that so many species are becoming extinct due to the expensive lifestyle of the American people. We as Americans try to live the American dream and try to get as many nice things as we can when in reality we are hurting the environment. It is estimated that we lose almost 100 species daily to deforestation which we lose about 150000 acres of land daily.

The world will be changing very soon especially in part due to the world population size. If the undeveloped countries don’t find a way to control their population growth such as India whose population is growing very large, then the world will soon face more important problems then oil shortages. The Unites States would have a balanced population growth if it was not for the immigration into this country. If population is not controlled then I believe that the world will run out of food and the extent of starvation will be out of control. This is not an extreme observation because little do people know that some scientists believe the world has already hit the natural carrying capacity of the world. Only time will tell when the world will hit its maximum carrying capacity and when that time comes, our lives will no longer be as we know them today.