No. of Recommendations: 0
We cannot keep up with the population.
Again, the evidence points to the contrary. We've increased the population, and pollution levels are declining. We're not only keeping up with the population, but we're reducing pollution emissions faster than the population is increasing.
Your argument ignores the fact that offshoring production to regions without environmental protections is just peeing in another part of the pool.
Because the amounts are trivial. On the whole, the amount we consume in the U.S. (manufactured and imported) is roughly equal to the amount we produce in the U.S. (manufactured and exported). The U.S. does import a decent amount of goods, and some of them are environmentally dirty - but it also exports a lot as well. We import a lot of cars....but we also export a lot of cars. Net imports are "only" about $900 billion, or roughly 3.5% of the economy. In some areas, we have a lot of imports (consumer electronics is of course the most obvious). But we also are a massive net exporter in certain products that have a big environmental, like refined petroleum products (gasoline and diesel), or ag products like soybeans.
And even in areas where we import more than we export, we're not entirely (or even mainly) importing from regions "without environmental protections." For example, behind consumer electronics, our next largest import category is cars. But almost all of our cars are imported from developed countries - Japan, the EU (mostly Germany), Canada, and South Korea. Sure, Mexico is a leading supplier (about 20%) - but it's not as though Mexico is entirely without environmental regulations. Half of all U.S. imports come from OECD nations.
At most, you might have a percentage point or two of net U.S. production being offshored to countries that are outside the OECD. Which is minor, on the whole, compared to the degree in reduction in pollution levels.
