Here's How Our Planet Would Fare If Everyone Lived Like an American

Americans are often stereotyped as wasteful, gas-guzzling carnivores with an insatiable thirst for sex and soft drinks. To investigate whether this image is rooted in fact or fiction, AsapSCIENCE did a statistics deep dive and surfaced with some chagrin-inducing numbers.

Not only do Americans kill and eat 10 billion animals annually, we also have the highest total caloric intake, sugar intake, and fat intake when compared to the rest of the world’s wealthiest countries. (To be fair, Americans also have more sex than anyone, besides the French—but contrary to myth, the physical act doesn't actually burn many calories.) When we're not chowing down on fast food and soda, we produce more than 1607 pounds of waste each year, much of which is organic (i.e. food) waste. As for our car-crazy ways, the average American drives 13,476 miles per year, and burns through an astounding 10 liters of oil per day.

These stats, along with others, raise a question: What would the world be like if everyone lived like an American? To learn how our planet's resources would fare, check out AsapSCIENCE’s video below.