The United States ranks third in the world in terms of population which is 325.7 million (2017), and it is the largest and most developed country in the world. Therefore, its resources and energy sources consumption is very large. However, its waste of resources is incredible, and far more wasteful than China.
Data
“The average person born in the US creates 13 times as much damage to the environment as someone born in Brazil, uses 35 times the resources of a typical person in India, and consumes about 53 times more products than people who live in China, according to Scientific American. Also, the lifestyle of Americans is second only to that of Canadians in generating the most greenhouse gases per person.”
Food
American throw away billions of pounds of food each year, worth billion of dollars and enough to feed millions of people. Dr. Roni Neff, a Johns Hopkins University researcher said “if we were able to recover all of our wasted food, we could provide a 2,000-calories diet to 84% of the population.” According to a 2014 EPA study, America throws away more than 38 million tons of food every year. That’s the weight of 104 Empire State Buildings, with a bit to spare. Food waste is not only related to the weight or the volume, it is also linked to the money. $165 billion per year expensive, it’s almost as much as the State of California’s entire budget in 2016.
From the restaurants to the dinner table at home, you can often see people leaving a lot of food after they done. Most American restaurants sell very large quantities of food. This maybe one of the reasons lead to waste because sometimes people don’t need lots of food, they are already full, and they just throw it away when they cannot find a place to store it. Most Americans have a habit of food shopping once a week. When the refrigerator still stores last week’s food, new week’s food comes, people will choose to throw away the old food and leave some space for new food.
Electricity
In a recent survey, the United States was ranked 8th among 23 of the world’s top energy-consuming countries in efficiency, behind several European nations, China, and Japan. In commercial buildings alone, where annual electricity costs are roughly $190 billion, about 30% of energy goes to waste. In an average year in the U.S. alone, outdoor lighting uses about 120 terawatt-hours of energy, mostly to illuminate streets and parking lots. That’s enough energy to meet New York City’s total electricity needs for two years. That adds up $3.3 billion and release 21 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. To offset all that carbon dioxide, we have to plant 875 million trees annually.
Most Americans did not readily turn off the lights. From school to home, or from offices to restaurants, the lights are still on, even if no one is in the room.
Water
About 75% of the water we use in our homes is used in the bathroom. For example, you use about five gallons to seven gallons of water with every flush. A leaky toilet can waste more than 10,000 gallons of water a year. Estimates vary, but each person in U.S. uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day. The largest use of household water is to flush the toilet, and after, to take showers and baths. The average North American consumes over 105 gallons of water a day compared to the average. European’s consumption of almost 53 gallons. The average person living in sub-Saharan Africa consumes only 2.4 to 5.3 gallons per day.
You can usually see a lots of water bottles are scattered or thrown directly into the garbage can because no one come to claim it. This scene usually occurs in school sports competitions. Most Americans don’t have the habit to use own long-used water kettle. They often choose to buy a case of mineral water or go to the Dunkin’ Donuts to buy a cup of water. This caused lots of plastic garbages and waste plastic resources. Most people like to take a bath, but taking a bath will waste more water than taking a shower. Also, sometimes we can see when people are washing the dishes, and when they are putting other dishes into the dishwasher, they let the water run instead of turning off the tap during this timing gap. Public bathroom are very clean and convenient in the United States, however, most of toilets are automated. So when people just come into the toilet but do not use it, sometimes the toilet will still flush. This waste water.
Conclude
The United States is the largest and the most developed country in the world, with industrial science and technology as the priority. It consumes a lot of resources and energy every year. But the United States should pay more attention to environmental protection and resources conservation, and ensure that waste is minimized. It can also reduce the government’s expenditure on the protection and recycling. The American citizens should set up the concept of environmental protection, and start doing the small things, start from doing it in their life. This will help the United States establish a better status in the world and leave a good environment for the next generation.
vanon3 