Photo exhibit depicts magnitude of product consumption

Constance says:

Photographer Chris Jordan's "Running the Numbers" shows us what, for instance, thirty seconds of aluminum can consumption in the US would look like if the cans were all gathered together. Seeing these statistics as images makes them far more real than just hearing the abstract numbers.

Photos show 2.5 million plastic bottles, (the number used in the US every hour), 426,000 cell phones (equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day [Every *day?* Is this statistic accurate?]), 29,569 handguns (equal to the number of gun-related deaths in the US in 2004), 2.3 million folded prison uniforms (equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005) and more.

Each photo is followed by a zoomed-in detail and a zoomed-in detail of the detail. Link

Reader comment:

Conor says:

I think that number [426,000 cell phones retired in the US every day] is probably accurate (DEAR GOD!!) The Google turned this up, showing 130 million cellies retired annually in 2005 (which is roughly close to the 155 million one gets based on the daily rate in your post).

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:33:20 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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