All-Consuming Passion: Waking Up From the American Dream

Some numbers that might surprise you...

References follow the stats...

• Despite the astounding economic growth between 1958 and 1980, Americans reported feeling significantly less well-off in 1980 than they had 22 years before. 1

• Americans reporting that they were "very happy" were no more numerous in 1991 than in 1957. 2

• Percentage of 18- to 29-year-olds who think they have a very good chance of achieving "the good life":
  • 1978: 41%
  • 1993: 21% 3

• Rise in per capita consumption in the U.S. in the last 20 years: 45% 4

• Decrease in quality of life in the U.S. since 1970, as measured by the Index of Social Health: 51% 5

• Percentage of Americans who feel the American Dream is very much alive:
  
  • 1986: 32%
  • 1990: 23% 6

• People today are on average four-and-a-half times richer than their great-grandparents at the turn of the century. 7

• Compared to their parents in 1950, people in the U.S., on average, own twice as many cars and drive 2 times as far. 8

• Amount of time the average working American spends behind the wheel: 9 hours per week. 9

• Increase in average daily TV viewing since 1960: 39% 10

• American parents spend 40% less time with their children today than they did in 1965. 11

• Employed Americans spend 163 hours more per year on the job than they did in 1969. 12

• Percentage of college freshmen who reported thinking it is essential to be well off financially:
  • 1967: 44%
  • 1987: 76%13

• Percentage of college freshmen who reported thinking it is essential to develop a philosophy of life:
  • 1967: 83%
  • 1987: 39% 13

• Median size of a new house built in the U.S.:
  • 1949: 1,100 sq ft 14
  • 1970: 1,385 sq ft 15
  • 1993: 2,060 sq ft 16

• Residential space per American:
  • 1950: 312 sq ft
    
  • 1993: 742 sq ft 17

• Number of Americans with two or more homes: 10 million18

• Number of homeless Americans: a minimum of 300,000 18

• Number of advertisements American teenagers are typically exposed to by the time they graduate from high school: 360,000 19

• Amount of time the average American will spend watching TV commercials: 1 entire year of his or her life 20

• Percentage of American teenage girls who report store-hopping as favorite activity: 93% 21

• Year in which the number of shopping centers in the U.S. (32,563) surpassed the number of high schools: 1987 22

• Average time spent shopping per week: 6 hours

• Time spent playing with children per week: 40 minutes 23

• About 53% of grocery and 47% of hardware-store purchases are spur of the moment. 24

• Percentage of mall shoppers surveyed across the country who were shopping for a specific item: only 25% 25

• Americans can choose from:
  • over 25,000 supermarket items
  • 200 kinds of cereal
  • 11,092 magazines 26

• The waste generated each year in the U.S. would fill a convoy of 10-ton garbage trucks 145,000 miles long -- over half-way to the moon. 27

• By the time a baby born today in the United States reaches age 75, he or she will have produced 52 tons of garbage, consumed 43 million gallons of water and used 3,375 barrels of oil. 28

• Proportion of housewares bought to replace worn-out items:
  • 1981: 2/3 to 3/4
    
  • 1987: less than 1/2 29

• For packaging (cans, bottles, cartons, etc.) alone, the U.S. uses approximately:
  • 50% of its paper
  • 75% of its glass
  • 40% of its aluminum and
  • 30% of its plastics 30

• Amount of motor oil sent to landfills or poured down drains in the U.S. each year: 180 million gallons -- the equivalent of 16 Exxon Valdez spills 31

• Percentage of Americans who say they have achieved the American Dream:
  • Those earning less than $15,000 a year: 5%
  • Those earning more than $50,000 a year: 6% 32

• Highest income group in U.S.: doctors 33

• Professions with highest proportion of unhappy people: doctors and lawyers 34

• Percentage of American workers who report feeling "used up" by the end of the workday: 42% 35

• Percentage of women who said "enough money" would persuade them to stop working permanently:
  • 1987: 35%
  • 1990: 56% 36

• Percentage of Americans who would like:
  • to "slow down and live a more relaxed life": 69%
  • a "more exciting, faster-paced life": 19% 37

• Percentage of the world's population comprised of Americans: 5%

• Percentage of the world's resources consumed by Americans: 30% 38

• The amount of energy used by one American is equivalent to that used by:
  • 3 Japanese
  • 6 Mexicans
  • 14 Chinese
  • 38 Indians
  • 168 Bangladeshi
  • 531 Ethiopians 39

• A person in the U.S. causes 100 times more damage to the global environment than a person in a poor country. 40

• Percentage of fossil fuel used annually that is consumed by the U.S.: 25% 41

• Percentage of all humans who own a car: 8% 42

• Percentage of American households who own one or more cars: 89% 43

• Average annual income of the:
  • 3.3 billion people in the global "middle class": $700-7,500
  • 1.1 billion people in the global "consumer class": over $7,50044

• The consumer class takes home 64% of the world's income. 44

• The average amount of pocket money for American children -- $230 a year -- is more than the total annual income of the world's half-billion poorest people. 45

• Possibility that all the world's people could live as Americans do: zero 46

• Since 1940 Americans alone have used up as large a share of the earth's mineral resources as all previous generations put together. 47

• In the last 200 years the United States has lost:
  • 50% of its wetlands
  • 90% of its northwestern old-growth forests
  • 99% of its tallgrass prairie and
  • up to 490 species of native plants and animals with another 9,000 now at risk 48

• Minerals due to run out in 50 years: copper, lead, mercury, nickel, tin and zinc 49

• Portion of U.S. water pumped annually from the groundwater supply that is not renewable: one-fifth 50

• Amount of rural land in the United States turned over to development every day: 9 square miles 51

• Number of acres we blacktop each year: 1.3 million acres (equal to the state of Delaware) 52

• Number of acres of cropland we lose to erosion each year: 1 million 53

• Per capita American consumption of soft drinks in 1989: 186 quarts54

• Per capita American consumption of tap water in 1989: 149 quarts 54

• Total energy consumed in producing a 12-ounce can of diet soda: 2,200 Calories
  Total food energy in a 12-ounce can of diet soda: 1 Calorie 55

• Within the lifetime of a child born today, virtually all of Earth's petroleum will be burned, and Earth's fuel tank will be empty. 56

• Value of assets/savings that today's average 50-year-old has set aside for retirement: $2,300 57

• Percentage of disposable personal income in U.S. allotted to savings:
  • 1973: 8.6% 58
  • 1993: 4.2% 59

• Percentage of disposable income spent on personal debt payments:
  • 1983: 62%
  • 1990: 83% 60

• When an American baby is born, his or her portion of the U.S. government debt is $14,813. 61

• Average increase in consumer spending when credit cards are used instead of cash: 23% 62

• Increase in consumer debt in the 1980s: 140% 63

• The typical American household carries $8,570 of non-mortgage personal debt. 64

• Number of individuals filing for bankruptcy in 1992: 900,000 -- triple that of 1981 65

• From a nationwide 1991 survey: 66
  • 8 out of 10 Americans regard themselves as "environmentalists" and half of those say they are "strong" ones.
    
  • 8 out of 10 voters say protecting the environment is generally more important than keeping prices down.
    
  • 53% say it will take fundamental changes in lifestyle, rather than scientific advances, to bring about dramatic changes in the environment.
    
  • BUT ... Only 46% surveyed say they have actually bought any items based on the environmental reputation of a product or manufacturer within the last 6 months.
    
  • BUT, BUT ... By 51% to 34%, voters think the need to protect jobs in the Northwest is more important than the need to protect the endangered spotted owl, an indicator species linked to healthy forests.
    
  • BUT, BUT, BUT ... American households have between 50 and 100 pounds of hazardous material that should be disposed of only through recycling or professional waste collection.
  • In 1989, 628 communities across the U.S. had programs to collect hazardous waste. In most cases only 1% to 5% of the residents utilized these programs. 67

• Percentage of Americans in 1990 who believed that a "major national effort" was needed to improve the environment: 78% 68

• Percentage actively working toward solutions: 22% 68

• In the state of Kerala in India, historical and cultural forces have produced a quality of life nearly equal to ours -- on a fraction of the income.

• In the U.S., we use 250 gallons of oil equivalents per person per year. Europeans use half this amount. 70

• Most Europeans produce less than half the waste per person as the average American. 71

• Number of people that the planet could support living as the Europeans do, with modest but comfortable homes, refrigeration for food, and ready access to public transit, augmented by limited auto use: everyone 72

• Percentage of Americans earning over $30,000 a year who said they would give up a day's pay each week for a day of free time: 70%

• Percentage of Americans earning less than $20,000 a year who said they would make the same pay-for-free-time trade: 48% 73

• Percentage of workers willing to forego raises and promotions to devote more time to their families: 34% 74

• In a 1991 survey of college freshmen: 75
  • Percentage saying it is "very important" or "essential" to influence social values: 43%
  • Percentage saying they took part in demonstrations during their last year in high school: 39.4%

• Harris Poll of 1,255 adults in November 1990: 47% were spending less time shopping than 5 years before. 76

• One of the top ten trends of 1994, according to the Trends Research Institute: voluntary simplicity 77

• Percentage of American workers ages 25-49 who believe that keeping up with the Joneses does anything for the keepers-up: 2% 78

• Percentage of American workers ages 25-49 who would like to see a return to a simpler society with less emphasis on material wealth: 75% 79

All Consuming Passion - References

1 Paul L. Wachtel, "The Case Against Growth," New Age Journal, November/December 1988, p. 23.

2 Alan Durning, "Asking How Much Is Enough," in Lester R. Brown et al, State of the World 1991 (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1991), p. 156.

3 Alan L. Ott en, "Young Adults Now Are More Pessimistic," Wall Street Journal, September 27, 1993.

4 John Cunniff, "Would You Believe These Are the Good Old Days?", Seattle Times, September 19, 1993.

5 "Social Problems on Rise, U.S.'Health Check' Shows," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 14, 1992.

6 Barbara Benham, "Why Have We Lost Confidence?", Investor's Business Daily, June 12, 1992.

7 Alan Thein Durning, How Much Is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. , 1992), p. 23.

8 Durning, see note #2, p. 154.

9 Durning, see note #7, p. 84.

10 "Eight Cultural Indicators," Wall Street Journal, March 15, 1993.

11 William R. Mattox, Jr., "The Parent Trap," Policy Review, no. 55, Winter, 1991, p. 6.

12 Juliet Schor, The Overworked American (New York: Basic Books, 1991), p. 29.

13 Laurence Shames, The Hunger for More (New York: Times Books, 1989), p. 43.

14 Alan Thein Durning, "Redesigning the Forest Economy," in Lester R. Brown et al., State of the World 1994 (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1994), p. 36.

15 "Harper's Index," Harper's Magazine, March 1992, p. 13.

16 Durning, see note #14.

17 Alan Durning, Saving the Forest: What Will It Take?, Worldwatch Paper #117 (Worldwatch Institute, 1993), p. 33.

18 Durning, see note #2, p. 164.

19 Durning, see note #7, p. 128.

20 Michael F. Jacobson, "Commercialism in America," address at a meeting of the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators, June 16, 1992.

21 Shames, see note #13, p. 147.

22 Durning, see note #2, p. 163.

23 Betsy Morris, "Big Spenders: As a Favored Pastime, Shopping Ranks High with Most Americans," Wall Street Journal, July 30, 1987.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Lena Williams, "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Enough!", New York Times , February 14, 1990.

27 Jeremy Rifkin, Ed., The Green Lifestyle Handbook (New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1990), p. 54.

28 Sandy Bauers, "Study: Save Earth; Have Fewer Children," Philadelphia Inquirer, January 17, 1990.

29 Morris, see note #23.

30 John Travis, Global Wellness Inventory (Mill Valley, CA: Wellness Associates, 1990), p. 6.

31 Rifkin, see note #27, p. 11.

32 "Harper's Index," Harper's Magazine, October 1988, p. 15.

33 Jonathan Freedman, Happy People (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich , 1978), p.167.

34 Ibid., p. 166.

35 Julia Lawlor, "Workers Want to Get a Life," USA Today, September 3, 1993.

36 Joni durn, "Women and Work," Seattle Times, April 25, 1991 (data from Monitor survey by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman).

37 Janice Castro, "The Simple Life," Time, April 8, 1991, p. 58.

38 Denis Hayes, "Eco-nomic Power," Seattle Weekly, November 10, 1993, p. 15.

39 Bauers, see note #28.

40 Dianne Dumanoski, "The People Problem," The Boston Globe, February 5, 1990, citing Paul Ehrlich.

41 Peter A. A. Berle, "Beyond Rio: The Real Challenge," Audubon, September-October 1992, p. 6.

42 Durning, see note #2, p. 158.

43 Rifkin, see note #27, p. 33.

44 Durning, see note #7, pp. 27-8.

45 Durning, see note #2, p. 153.

46 Ibid., p. 157.

47 Durning,see note #7, p. 38.

48 The 1993 Information Please Environmental Almanac, compiled by World Resources Institute (Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), p. 159.

49 The World Resources Institute, World Resources 1992-1993 (New York: Oxford Univ ersity Press, 1992), pp.320-21.

50 Sandra Postel, "Increasing Water Efficiency," Lester R. Brown et al, State of the World 1986 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1986), p. 59.

51 Durning, see note #7, p. 148.

52 David Pimentel, panelist, "United States Carrying Capacity Overview," Carrying Capacity Network conference, Washington, D.C., 1993.

53 Ibid.

54 Durning, see note #2, p. 160.

55 Pimentel, see note #52.

56 Gerald O. Barney, Global 2000 Revisited (Arlington, VA, Millenium Institute, 1993), p. 31.

57 "Merrill Lynch Top Executives Address National Press: The Retirement Savings Crisis," CMA Insights (a Merrill Lynch bulletin), July 1992.

58 Charles Wolf, Jr., "Our Problem Isn't So Much Borrowing," Wall Street Journal, September 28, 1984.

59 Fred R. B leakley, "The Outlook: Taxes Will Go Higher; So Will Spending Fall?", Wall Street Journal, December 6, 1993.

60 "Record Number Going Broke," Seattle Times, September 5, 1991.

61 Stephen H. Dunphy, "Economic Memo: A Primer on Debt," Seattle Times, March 29, 1992.

62 David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, The People's Almanac (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1975), p. 341.

63 Dana Milbank, "Hooked on Plastic: Middle-Class Family Takes a Harsh Cure for Credit-Card Abuse," Wall Street Journal, January 8 , 1991.

64 Mary Granfield, "Having It All in America Today," Money, October 1991, p.124.

65 John H. Cushman, Jr., "Bankrupt Individuals Are Fewer," New York Times, June 28, 1993.

66 Rose Gutfeld, "Shades of Green: Eight of 10 Americans Are Environmentalists, At Least So They Say," Wall Street Journal, August 2, 1991.

67 Rifkin, see note #27, p. 13.

68 "Facts Out of Context" (citing Roper Center for Public Research), In Context, No. 26, Summer 1990, p. 5.

69 William M. Alexander, Earth Efficiency: I s Community a Key? (Food First Institute and Earthwatch Expeditions, 1993), p 13. (Data from Population Reference Bureau, 1993 World Population Data Sheet, and Government of Kerala, Economic Review 1992.)

70 Pimentel, see note #52.

71 "Sustainability: T he Global Challenge," ZPG Backgrounder (Washington, D.C.: Zero Population Growth).

72 Durning, see note #2, p. 157.

73 Carol Hymowitz, "Trading Fat Paychecks for Free Time," Wall Street Journal, August 5, 1991. (Figures based on research by John Robinson, director of the Americans' Use of Time Project at the University of Maryland.)

74 Lawlor, see note #35.

75 "More U.S. Students Pass Up the Buck," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 28, 1991.

76 "Shoppers Are a Dwindling Species," Business Week, November 26, 1990.

77 Carol Smith, "More Seek Meaning in a Simpler Life," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 25, 1994.

78 T George Harris and Daniel Yankelovich, "What Good Are the Rich?", Psychology Today, April 1989, p. 38.

79 Ramon C. McLeod, "Baby Boomers Seek 'Meaning'," San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 1989.

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The research and writing for this page are thanks to the New Road Map Foundation and to Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money or Your Life.