By JASON JEFFREY SEMON on October 24, 2012 2:19 PM

I think we have all come to the realization that America consumes way more of the world’s “stuff” than the people we account for. Americans make up for roughly 5% of the world’s population, but we consume much more than that. We use 20% of the world’s energy, eat 15% of the world’s meat and create 40% of the garbage on Earth.




One American consumes as much energy as:

2 Japanese

6 Mexicans

13 Chinese

31 Indians

128 Bangladeshis

370 Ethiopians



· The population is projected to increase by nearly 130 million people – the equivalent of adding another four states the size of California – by the year 2050.

· Forty percent of births are unintended.

· Americans eat 815 billion calories of food each day – that’s roughly 200 billion more than needed – enough to feed 80 million people.

· Americans throw out 200,000 tons of edible food daily.

· The average American generates 52 tons of garbage by age 75.

· The average individual daily consumption of water is 159 gallons, while more than half the world’s population lives on 25 gallons.

· Fifty percent of the wetlands, 90% of the northwestern old-growth forests, and 99% of the tall-grass prairie have been destroyed in the last 200 years.

· Eighty percent of the corn grown and 95% of the oats are fed to livestock.

· Fifty-six percent of available farmland is used for beef production.

· Every day an estimated nine square miles of rural land are lost to development.

· There are more shopping malls than high schools.