U.S. Consumption Scorecard

Each U.S. citizen consumes an average of 260 lbs. of meat per year, the world's highest rate. That is about 1.5 times the industrial world average, three times the East Asian average, and 40 times the average in Bangladesh (6.5 lbs). [1]

The U.S. population is 4.6% of global humanity, but it produces 24% of the world's carbon dioxide output, largely from the burning of fossil fuels. [1]

Directly or indirectly, each U.S. citizen consumes his or her own body weight in primary resources every day: oil, coal, other minerals, and agricultural and forest products. [2]

A child born today in the United States will have a lifetime impact on the environment that is 30 times greater than a child born today in a developing nation such as India. [3]

References: [1] UNDP, Human Development Report 1998; [2] Alan Thein Durning, How Much is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth (New York: W.W. North & Co., 1992); [3] Al Gore, Report of the President's Commission on Sustainable Development (Washington DC: June 1993)