Environmental criminals

Via The Guardian, I chanced upon this interesting list of the ten men most wanted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Their crimes range from illegally importing polluting vehicles into the US to dumping contaminated grain into the ocean, in addition to releasing harmful effluents. Most of these men are on the run, and living outside the US. If we in India were to arrest our environmental criminals, we'd have no place in our jails to accommodate them. But then again, how about the average US citizen who eats more than his share, wastes more than he is allowed, drives more than she needs to, or uses more paper and plastic and water and electricity than her counterpart in any third-world country can afford? Look at it just in terms of food consumption. A TIME magazine feature based on the book Hungry Planet - What the World Eats by photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio illustrates just how much food is consumed by the average first world family. In the US, especially, this consists of so much packaged and shrink-wrapped foodstuff compared with other regions where food is locally grown and harvested. Are those people criminals, or just consumers? Can the world cope with this immense waste? More so, can it come to terms with the bad eating habits that the US is forking out to the world through its chains of Pizza Huts, McDonalds, its cartons of Gatorade and Lays crisps, and its cultural exports? So, is the EPA even concerned about the global corporations headquartered in the US and listed in the US stock markets that are openly allowed to do business around the world, profiteering from encouraging lifestyles that are, if anything, wholesomely unsustainable? Are they criminals or just business concerns? Either way, what's the frikking difference?