Diapers and Showers and Sodas, Oh My!
The big impact each American has on the planet, and what you can do about it.
April 10, 2008— -- It's hard to imagine what a human being consumes in a lifetime. All the food you eat, the potatoes, the fruits, the bread, the chickens.
And everything you drink, and all the clothes you buy and toss. All the furniture and appliances and toothbrushes and bath products and newspapers. The list goes on and on. If the rest of the world consumed at the rate Americans do, we would need five planets worth of resources to cover it.
And it is indeed possible to add it all up. For a special called "Human Footprint," the National Geographic Channel calculated all the energy, resources and products used by each American over an average lifetime.
Watch "Human Footprint" on the National Geographic Channel.
Over the two-hour broadcast, the consumption of a lifetime is piled up and put on display. Got milk? It does a body good, and Americans consume 13,056 pints of it in a lifetime. A sea of 28,433 rubber duckies represents the number of showers taken in a lifetime. A visual demonstration of the 4,376 loaves of bread (or 87,520 slices) and 12,129 hamburger buns consumed in a lifetime is laid out in the shape of the American flag.
The cumulative result of it all is shocking, and it starts with the youngest citizens. Over the first years of life, an American baby will wear 3,796 diapers. Since it probably takes hundreds of years for the diaper's plastic to biodegrade, you'd think cloth diapers would be a viable solution. But have you considered what it takes to launder 3,796 diapers? How about 22,455 gallons of water. And the problem is not just what Americans consume — it's also where they live.
Everything that goes into an American home contributes to the enormous human footprint. With the American population expanding faster than ever, the demand for housing is soaring. About 1.5 million houses are being built every year, and the average 2,000 square foot home is a glutton for materials: 14,000 board feet of lumber — that's about 64 trees — 17 tons of concrete, and 11,500 feet of siding.
But there may be a better way to build our homes, and 20/20 found one in Santa Monica, Calif. Steve Glenn owns what is called the green home of the future.
