Human Footprint: Everything You Will Eat, Use, Wear, Buy, and Throw Out in Your Lifetime

by Ellen Kirk

Overview

What is your human footprint? Well, it's 13,056 pints of milk, 28,433 showers, 12,888 oranges, 14,518 candy bars, and $52,972 worth of clothes, all in one lifetime. Makes you want to step more lightly on the planet! Perfectly timed for Earth Day, this book doesn't preach or judge, but simply shows kids—in an exciting, visual way—how humans interact with the environment and how we can lessen our impact. Astonishing photography captures the full picture of consumption, documenting all the diapers you wore as a baby, the bread you'll eat in a lifetime, and the cans you'll recycle, based on national averages. Tying in with a National Geographic Channel production, Human Footprint is colorful and fun—yet also manages to be a powerful tool for kids to visualize the dimensions of consumption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426307676
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Series:	National Geographic Kids Series
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	178,850
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ellen Kirk is a writer who enjoys making information fun and accessible for kids. She is the author of the National Geographic Kids book Human Footprint: Everything You Will Eat, Use, Wear, Buy, and Throw Out in Your Lifetime.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–6—Kids hear about "carbon footprints,'" but Kirk's slim book shows exactly how big our "human footprint" is during a lifetime: 3796 disposable diapers for each baby (using 1898 pints of crude oil just to manufacture the liners); 12 cars (which have footprints for their own integral parts); 4376 loaves of bread, and 1055 pounds of sugar from candy bars. These statistics (garnered from the National Geographic Channel's presentation of "Human Footprint") and the clear color photos are startling evidence of our demands on our planet. The pages are busy, with text in different fonts, sizes, and colors superimposed on a full-bleed illustration on each spread. Sadly, the "What You Can Do" section offers a meager three hints: lower the thermostat, collect rainwater for car washing, and unplug electrical appliances when not in use, which may be outside the provenance of many kids (what's wrong with drinking tap water instead of wheedling canned sodas from Mom, for example?)—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

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