"as bringing up the standard of living in those nations to that of the West is impossible given the Earth's finite resources"
I am curious to see the study that supports scientifically this hypothesis.
eg like the folowing simplified example
X = square killometers of good land to grow food =( Y land for potatoes + Z land for tomatos +W land for animal farming)
then (Y * tons of potatos/square kilometer + Z * tons of potatos/square kilometer + w * tons of meat/square kilometeters ) / P population of planet earth / 365 days a year = a daily meat potato tomato meal < decent, healthy meal for a human being (that will not get you unhealthy fat)
Do you have any idea how
much food, goods etc is thrown into garbage every day in the western world?