Never ones to let raw facts get in the way of a good story, a familiar line spouted by Americans these days is, 'Why should the US curb energy consumption, when India and China are guzzling petrol and polluting the whole globe?'

From New York to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between, the chorus can be heard: 'Blame India! Blame China!'

Well, brought to our attention by Wired, recent empirical data rubbish this argument and kick it to the curb. (PDF file) The state of California's own statistics show that, in 2006, the state consumed 20 billion gallons of diesel and petrol as transportation fuel, a more than 50 per cent increase over the past two decades. But even more interestingly, 20 billion gallons a year tops the transportation fuel usage of the entire nations of China or India!

Chew on that for a while, and allow it to truly sink in: California alone uses more petrol and diesel for fuel that any other country in the world, save the United States as a whole, which used a whopping 136 billion gallons, or 44% of the world's transportation fuel consumption.

Of course, listening to US politicians, talking heads and media reports, one wouldn't know it. They constantly inundate us with stories of India and China and their rapid growth, and what it portends for the developed world. The two emerging Asian giants have been blamed for everything from food shortages to rising fuel prices to global warming.

But instead of worrying why Indians need two rotis per day rather than one, or why our rapid development has led to increased vehicles on India's roads, perhaps it's time for America to do some soul searching and ask a few questions of itself.

Isn't it outrageous for a state with 36 million people to consume more transportation fuel than a nation of 1 billion, India, and still point the blame elsewhere?

The second question, how is this even possible? How can every 1 Californian consume more transportation fuel than 30 Indians?