Excessive Consumption

Before getting into any of the specific problems, i think its important to just hit you all with some general facts regarding humanities paper use. Below is an infographic to illustrate the extent of our paper consumption (Note that these figures are related to the US alone –> the largest consumer of paper).

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Figure 1. How much paper is used in the US in one day. (Lofgren, 2016)

To get an idea of consumption on a global scale – in 2014 407.5 million metric tones of paper was consumed. 1 ton of paper = 200’000 sheets –> 407.5 million x 200’000 = 81.5 trillion sheets of paper a year world wide = 223’000’000’000 sheets every day.

In terms of weight each person produces 120.62 lbs/55 kg of waste a year! This is equivalent to the weight of an adult New Zealand fur seal!

Figure 2. Young seal on rock. (Gibbens, n.d.)

So while the US is definitely pulling their weight, the rest of the world is still consuming paper on a massive scale. To see the impacts this is having on our planet, take a look at the other ‘Problems’.