Running the Numbers: An American Self-portrait

[noisetonepause]

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=7

Thought-provoking...

[hambone1]

Enlightening, yet depressing.

Reminds me why I'm embarassed to be American...

[noisetonepause]

Enlightening, yet depressing.

Reminds me why I'm embarassed to be American...

I'd say in this case it's unfair not to look at individuals.

After doing some calculations and discovering that each and every american uses ~3.5 plastic bags per day (which I found completely baffling), I e-mailed him, this is what he said:

That number includes plastic bags, sacks (which would include garbage bags, and all of the plastic bags used by industry) and wraps; here are the numbers from the EPA:

--Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

--According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.

[8O]

Just discovered this - definitely worth a look if you haven't seen it already.

[LoopStationZebra]

Best. Graphic. Images. Ever.

Sorry. Can't get past the amazingly cool imagery. I'll get around to reading the (what I'm sure will be very depressing) stuff later.

[Tone Deft]

that's insane.

it's not just waste but shows a tremendous economy and population. this is why they do these things on a per capita basis.


what amuses me is the whole bottled water thing. first it was a health movement, now people see how many water bottles end up in landfills. then they wanted to ban water bottles. now, what are your options at the corner store? it's not water.

[myxomat0515]

Enlightening, yet depressing.

Reminds me why I'm embarassed to be American...

Wait....why are you embarrassed to be an American? Because of these statistics and few pictures? YOU are an embarrassment to us. Keep your anti-American sentiments to yourself and FUCK off. Stay in Abu Dhabi.

[aizo]

That's exactly why I carry a back pack everywhere I go. Even at the convenient store when I have an ass load of shit I refuse the bags. However plastic bags are not as scary as Styrofoam peanuts. The name of the article escapes me but that shit is even more fucked and mostly ends up in the ocean. Of course fish think it's food and eat it. Consuming the fish causes cancer in some cases.

[longjohns]

the whole bottled water thing. first it was a health movement

city water standards are higher than for bottled water. and it's free

[john doe by choice]

Enlightening, yet depressing.

Reminds me why I'm embarassed to be American...

Wait....why are you embarrassed to be an American? Because of these statistics and few pictures? YOU are an embarrassment to us. Keep your anti-American sentiments to yourself and FUCK off. Stay in Abu Dhabi.

Hold on a minute...

Wasteful consumerism is shameful, but only if you don't make an effort to do something about it as a consumer - if you know that what we're doing is destroying this planet and you don't care enough to at least try to make things better, you should be ashamed, american or not. I'm not anti-american, but I certainly am against the idea of what "being american" means as defined by the douchebags in office for the last 8 years (you know, the guys who ripped of their own country, ruined the economy, engaged in a terrible, useless war, and left the mess for the next guy without so much as an "I'm sorry" to anyone for anything).

As for Abu Dubai, I can't say I've got any respect for any country or federation (like the UAE) that will allow Haliburton to move their main offices there in order to avoid extradition for what are, in essence, war crimes.

[longjohns]

well he lived in england before. I'd guess the move to UAE was not a political statement.

[Voodu]

He may have lived in the Uk before but he was also a douche then as well. I hate people that are apologetic because it's the chic thing to do.

I mean really let's be ashamed that one of the most populous nations in the world produces the most waste. What a fucking shocker!!! Fact is there is always an anti American sentiment on this forum and he's playing into that to be agreeable.

As you can probably tell by this post I'm American. I admit we are a fucked up nation, however I'm not sorry to be part of a country that has fought tooth and nail since it's conception to carve out it's place in the world. A country that has resilient and great people as much as it has douche bags.

I'm sorry Hambone but your posts always come across as self righteous and holier than thou to me. It doesn't matter what nation your from your personal behavior is all your responsible for and if you feel the need to apologize for anyone elses you have a very serious problem.

I may not agree with most people in this nation and their over eating over consuming ways, but I may as well worry about the sun falling on my head. I'm just as capable of stopping that as I am preventing dumb asses from doing what they do.

Everyone on the planet shares a stake in the ongoing environmental crisis unless you live in a forest somewhere.

[Voodu]

Oh and John Doe makes excellent points in his last post.

[freqn]

I'd like to know how accurate the statistics are and how they are gathered.

[Johnisfaster]

I'd like to see the same information gathered for every country and then before you make the art you multiply/devide the figures by population to make them comparative to the united states. My hypothesis is that you'd see art that looked pretty damn similar.