Hank [BS/MSEE,
MSM $$$, Ph.D. Mgmt] teaches Entrepreneurship
&
Innovation and Marketing
@ Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana USA.
His interests include students, anything involving technology, Social
Marketing,
brain-computer interfaces, and boomers as
entrepreneurs. He is also coordinator of Purdue's Certificate
in Entrepreneurship Program. Hank can be
reached 24/7 here: hank -at-entr200-dot-com.
The Mineral Information Institute (MII) is a national 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating youth about the science of minerals and other natural resources, and about their importance in our every day lives. The table below provides info on a yearly basis. You decide what this means to you and your chosen career. Hank
That’s an intresting set of facts. It makes perfect sense, Americans use something like 25% of the world’s resources. Anyway, I’ll probably use more coal and natural gas than some Americans because as an Animator, I’ll probably spend many sleepless nights slaving away to meet a deadline. I’d hope to have a hybrid car or something to cut down on the petroluium usage.
I wanna see what it is like for say, England or other EU countries. I’m not saying they would be higher it would just be neat to see where they are kicking our butt.
I always really like info like this, it’s really interesting/eye-opening. Considering the amount of roads and things that span the US though, most of the numbers seem totally feasible. I bet they don’t average 400lb worth of salt per person in Socal, that number is thanks to us!
I can’t believe how anyone can actually link certain minerals to people’s bodies. Now, I still think that’s damn cool I am just confused how it works. The 1.72 million pounds of stone, sand, gravel etc was really interesting considering how much that really is.
Wow this is very surprising! I did not realize how many pounds of minerals we use in a lifetime. We do have a lot of roads and highways in the U.S. Like Drew, I am also wondering what the stats are for European countries. They use a lot more railways than roads.
It is amazing how they were able to calculate these numbers.
I’m very curious how they are spread out throughout the nation. (which part of the U.S. uses the most manganese,copper…etc..)
This number is not so much shocking as it is sad and alarming. I am a Retail Management major hoping to do something in the fashion industry and I know that this sector of business uses a ton of energy. However, many companies are now producing organic goods, including using environment friendly dyes, and cutting down on energy usage. I just hope to be able to cut down on energy consumption in my own home and in my everyday way of living.
Oh my goodness, this is alarming! I never realized how much of this stuff I consume/use. That graph with the baby is really informative, wow! I am a Sales Management major and I’m not exactly sure how that would directly affect how much or what I consume. I guess it would probably depend on what I end up selling?!? Although I do hope to be in a position where I can do a lot of traveling, I love to travel, so I suppose in that case I’d use a lot of Iron Ore and/or Sand & Gravel.
I’m surprised how high the numbers are for the amount of minerals, metals and fuels every human uses. That’s insane.
I’ve known that these numbers are like this for quite a while now but its still kinda amazes me everytime I see it.
calculations like that seem a little bogus to me because there are WAY too many variable in how each person lives their life to be able to come up with any accurate numbers. these numbers are probably calculated by assuming every person consumes the proper and exact amount of minerals each day and everyone drives X amount of miles every day. It just doesn’t happen like that. I’m completely positive the real numbers are still surprising and ridiculous but you should never take statistics hook, line, and sinker.
Surprising and confusing how one would come about this data. Very interesting. How about other super power countries and the United States comparison to them?
I’d like to see how they figure this stuff out. It’s believable but I’d still like to know.
While this may seem shocking to most people, I’m a little skeptical. Keep in mind that all of these numbers are averages, and that there are plenty of people who use more than this, and people who will use far less than this. Other than that though, the data seems about right. Most of the minerals found on this chart are going to be in our food such as carrots, corn, and fruits, for things like zinc, magnesium, etc. Also, a lot of the resources are used twice in the study. For example, it says we 12,000 lbs of stone for roads, buildings, etc. and also says we need about 900 lbs of cemet and gravel (which is all made from stone). By the way, stone is pretty heavy so 900 lbs of cemet/gravel isn’t half bad. After having to carry stone in my backyard for a retaining wall for as small as it was, I’d say there was at least 1,200 lbs of stone. So putting it in perspective its not that bad.
Wow that is unreal to think that each person uses this amount of these resources in their lifetimes! This is eye opening and could also be used as an idea to think of more renewable resources to use in place of these nonrenewable resources.
I agree with some of the other comments made, there is no possible way to even generalize this type of information even as an avarage. Besides I use a lot more lead.
This truly is amazing. I had know idea how many minerals you need and use in a lifetime. I wonder how the rest of the countries of the world compare to the united states.
When looking at this data, it has to be taken with a grain of salt (in terms of thinking “Wow, we use a ton of stuff each!”). We recycle huge amounts of metals all the time; just about everything metal is salvaged and recycled (especially if it has copper or aluminum in it). The picture says “new materials”, but according to mii.org, they collect their data from the US Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries, which don’t take recycling into account.
Remember, too, that these numbers are misleading in the way that we are using these materials to improve. The concrete goes towards new buildings and roads, but the old concrete is crushed and recycled into minerals to use for concrete later. Also, the fuel numbers will change significantly over the next decades when we start to use significantly less petroleum.
Very interesting facts. As many have said, and I agree, how is this information/data collected? And are these numbers bad in comparison to other countries?
The numbers are staggering. Plain and simple. The first thing that came to mind is how are we going to keep up with giving every american a standard living while maintaining it. An astronomic number such as 3.7 million pounds of material in ones lifetime takes awhile to grasp. I do wonder what statistics are like compared to large and overcrowded countries such as Japan or China. The way things are going with fossil fuels and what not, we as a country will not be able to accomodate these needs. Innovative and new technology must give way in order to do so.
These numbers a pretty interesting. It makes me wonder what the statistics are for other countries. I bet Dubai citizens would have the highest numbers since the construction in their country is out of control right now. I am a construction major, which really make these numbers interesting. If the lifetime is based on eight years, I cant imagine how many new roads and buildings will be built by then.
Wow very cool. I never would have thought that we use that many resources in our lifetime. It is just amplifies how much we need to look into reusable resources for our daily needs.
This is an interesting piece of data. It makes you truly realize how important energy conservation is in today’s world. The need for energy-saving entrepreneurs is on the rise and prospective niche markets are needed to accomplish this. I’m sure the more we realize the depletion levels of certain minerals etc., the more capable we will become in utilizing them in cost-effective, logical ways. This is truly something we must accept and build upon to insure our longevity here on Earth.
This is really an interesting fact to know.. I wasn’t knowing that I consume so much minerals n all.. Hank, from where do you get all these facts?? wow!!
I mean, I could never imagine that I consume so much of minerals… That is why there is a crisis of fuel,,,ha ha…
We are consuming so much of them…really amazing!!
This information is crazy! I had no idea about any of this.. its pretty interesting though
I find two things interesting about this. First it is that someone can actually figure this out. How long would someone have to sit down and work on this to actually figure something like this out. The second thing I find interesting is the results of this. Who would really think that they consume so many minerals.
It appears that the FSR Express blog on the right hand side of this page is no longer a blog…
Wow! Although these figures sound alarming…they’re true! i Have read something like this before in a magazine…! I sometimes think, if this is wat americans use…wat is the condition all over the world??! China and India are building roads, houses, buildings, flyovers, undergrounds, etc all the time…the amount of material used would be humongous…!
How long would all these minerals last?? Iv read that petroleum and the fuels are gonna get over soon…wat bout the rest of the minerals?? They sure have a limit!
And yeah…i totally agree with Chris Jones…recycling hasnt been considered here! if that is considered with metals and minerals (except fuels), the per person usage will drop down drastically!
dang
when its put into something that is easy to comprehend like that it really has an impact. i never even considered/knew about this but now that i look at it its kind of interesting
it’s nice to know all these info. i wonder how long does it take them to gather all these data?
680431 pounds of other mineral and metals…that looks like a big number to me
i didnt know many of these facts, but im am surprised by how much Americans use compared to the rest of the world
These statistics are actually quite disgusting. To think that we as Americans need 31,909 lbs. of salt is ridiculous. I think that we should definitely cut back on our consumption of resources, considering that we are only a fraction of the world’s population but yet we consume most of the resources in the world.
Statistics are always dangerous when they’re out of context. These numbers don’t really mean much to me when they’re not compared to anything else. I can’t really imagine what 773 lbs of zinc looks like, or what kind of dent it is making in the global supply of zinc. I know that we are massive consumers, but that’s pretty much what drives our economy. People have to make money somehow!
I agree with Matt, these statistics show how much we as Americans (on average of course) use (overuse?). I think the only way to make a change is to know what to change, and this may open enough eyes to look for a solution. Although these numbers may seem large, imagine what the rest of the world’s statistics are in comparison to the U.S.
How can we exploit these statistics for business? How can an Entrepreneur turn these statistics into something profitable. Well like Steve Jobs did with the iPod, we can use terms like this to describe human waste rather than pounds of CO2. Because that is obviously not working. Steve Jobs realized that telling the general public the storage capacity of the iPod meant absolutely nothing to them, but if he was to convert that figure into how many songs it can hold, the public could relate a lot better. We could use this same concept in energy savings. Companies could describe their environmental efforts in terms of millions of pounds of coal saved, or amount of plastic saved. This might be more eye opening to the public.
very interesting and informative article. these numbers are pretty insaine. What i want to know is how much of these things are needed in other countires, and how they would be all provided.
Considering how much crap people buy/make during their lifetime I don’t find these numbers surprising at all.
how long will the earth be able to maintain the way people’s consumption of it. US, the only superpower in the world. It leads the world in everything, including consuming most natural materials in the world.
Note to self: Dont waste 1 million pounds of coal.
These statistics are fascinating i would never have guessed i would use that much of any material.
definitely fascinating! i couldn’t believe my eyes, really that is nuts!
The graph they provided was very useful in helping us to realize how much materials and energy we use throughout our lifetime. It’s eye opening for us because it directly affects each and everyone of us. It would be interesting to compare our statistics with other countries and see how we could improve and where we would need to improve.
Its kind of funny how ignorant most of are without even taking into the little factors that we dont really know anything about until someone points them out to us