Human Footprint

Hosting National Geographic Channel's new documentary on our lifelong consumption opened Elizabeth Vargas' eyes to the sheer amount of stuff we purchase. For Vargas, the lessons kept coming even after the cameras stopped rolling.

The magnitude of the message is what attracted me to this project. Human Footprint does not just tell you how many hamburgers you will eat in a lifetime. We trace those hamburgers back to the farm where the cattle were raised. The film then shows the resources it took to raise those cows and bring the meat to market. Following the life cycle of these items really opens your eyes to the impact that one hamburger or can of soda or bottle of shampoo has on the world.

One of the things that amazed me the most was how much Americans actually throw away. As you will see in the film, we will generate 246 million tons of trash this year alone. We will throw away 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars and 36 billion aluminum cans. And I never knew that packaging alone accounts for 33 percent of the trash we produce. It is amazing to think about what we leave behind in landfills.

Hosting this incredible special for the National Geographic Channel really caused me to look at what I and my family consume. For me personally, from the diapers I put on my son to the newspapers I recycle, I see everything differently and try to conserve as much as possible. I find myself shutting off lights more than ever before and taking the extra step to unplug unused appliances. We forget that even though that appliance is not in use, just by being plugged in, it wastes energy and resources.

I hope that everyone watching the show on Sunday the 13th can see that as each of us has an impact, each of us has a footprint. We also each have a responsibility to monitor our consumption and work on reducing our footprint. I know that every new fact I learned has helped me look at my household and ways that we can reduce our consumption. For instance, if each of us just lowers the thermostat two degrees in the wintertime and raises it two degrees in the summertime, we could each save 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year. On any given day it's easy to think that our individual impact on the world is relatively small, but multiply your actions over a lifetime and the true extent of our footprint becomes apparent. I think people will be surprised and fascinated when they actually see for the first time the extraordinary amounts of resources each of us will eat, produce and consume simply through our daily lives.

Human Footprint airs April 13th at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel.