Visualizing your Human Footprint

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After watching a special on the National Geographic Channel called Human Footprint , I began to think about what it truly means to be a “consumer.” Being a consumer means that we are constantly consuming resources, and as we consume, we leave behind enormous amounts of waste.

On the program, the Human Footprint team very artistically and accurately represents the amounts of food, energy, water and other natural resources we, as individuals, will consume in our lifetime (based on the U.S. average for one lifetime).

4,376 loaves of Wonder Bread depicting the average number of loaves of bread you will eat and 28,433 rubber ducks, representing the number of showers you will take, are just a few illustrations that the team create to impact the way you view your human footprint.  By creating these visual displays, the Human Footprint team has made the issue personal and more easily understood, especially for visual folks like myself who do not easily relate to statistics and figures.

Click here to calculate your human footprint and be sure to “Look behind the scenes” to see actual video of how the Human Footprint team created the installations.

For more information, check out Maghan’s post about the word consumer.