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04/30/2008: "Even the homeless in US produce double average global per-capita of carbon emissions"
An MIT class has estimated the carbon emissions of Americans in a wide
variety of lifestyles -- from the homeless to multimillionaires, from
Buddhist monks to soccer moms -- and compared them to those of other
nations. The somewhat disquieting bottom line is that in the United
States, even the people with the lowest usage of energy are still producing, on average, more than double the global per-capita average.
While it may seem surprising that even people whose lifestyles don't appear extravagant--the homeless, monks, children--are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, one major factor is the array of government services that are available to everyone in the United States. These basic services--including police, roads, libraries, the court system and the military--were allocated equally to everyone in the country in this study. Other services that are more specific, such as education or Medicare, were allocated only to those who actually make use of them.
[ The system produces carbon emissions on your behalf just because you live in the country ]
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428120658.htm