U.S. Pavilion

In the American Pavilion one day, my attention was attracted by a chiming bell, which, it turned out, was meant to symbolize the relentless succession of births taking place right here in our own country, practically before our very eyes. The bell was on top of a piece of Pop sculpture that indicated through revolving signs how much of our resources each chimed-in infant would use up during his or her lifetime. “Use 2 tons of textile fibers,” one sign said. There was a sign that said “Make 165 tons of garbage” and another one that said “Use 21,000 gallons of gas.” As the father of two small daughters, I had to admit that I had never thought of them in the role of lifetime consumers; they do not make the impression of bulk users. Do some new fathers gaze tenderly at the infants their wives are holding and say, “Just think, dear, she’s destined to use two tons of textile fibres”? Are those obstetricians who always tell parents what splendid healthy babies they have just been blessed with really thinking, “There goes another 21,000 gallons of our nation’s precious fossil fuel”? The display did not exactly say that we should feel guilty about causing a chime or two, but what other conclusion can be drawn by someone who has had a role in producing the means of making three hundred and thirty tons of garbage? - Calvin Trillin, “Thoughts of a Fair-Trotter.” The New Yorker, August 5, 1974.