Human Footprint was a documentary about how much the average American will consume in their lifetime. It covered everything from the diapers a baby will wear to the amount of houses and cars a person will own in their lifetime. It provided the average amount consumed by each American over their lifetime, meaning some will use more of one thing, while others will use less. Some things, like the amount of appliances and the type of food we eat, were a great example of something that people probably didn't realize had a huge effect on the world. While this has provided great information about how much Americans actually consume, it has done little to address these issues. In fact, sometimes it seemed like they were no problems at all. The documentarian assumed that people watching thought drinking was a problem, but I'm not sure that's the case for the majority of people. Another problem was the amount of time wasted examining the inflated quantity of items consumed. Finally, they failed to challenge the viewer to change their lifestyle in even the most generically simple ways, such as using less when the opportunity arises. First, the documentary stated its purpose by emphasizing that it would show exactly how much Americans use, consume, and waste over the course of their lives. The way the amounts for certain actions, such as showering, were represented was funny to almost laughable. While it was fun to use little rubber ducks to show how many showers a person takes in their lifetime, it was ridiculous that they felt they had to show a long river-like formation built out of all the ducks. This was an effective strategy at first. However, as we progressed from pint of milk to loaves of bread, it started to feel a little redundant. Taking a......middle of paper......sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243>.Richtel, Matt and Kate Galbraith. “Returning to Junk Value, Recyclables Are Piling Up – NYTimes.com.” New York Times [New York City] December 8, 2008, New York ed., Business section: A1+. The New York Times - Breaking news, world news and multimedia. 08 December 2008. Web. 08 September 2011. .Schouton, Fredreka. “Light Bulb Law Faces Challenge in Congress - USATODAY.com.” News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, US & World - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY, March 10, 2011. Web. September 8, 2011. "TOTAL POULTRY MEAT CONSUMPTION." USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). USDA, 16 December 2003. Web. 08 September. 2011. .