Humans are consuming more resources than the planet can provide, a trend that has been progressively getting worse over the past 50 years.

The majority Americans used to grow food and make things, whereas the remaining of the population provided services to help those people and activities. According to data from the 2010 federal census, only 1% of the population is engaged in agriculture and 12 percent in manufacturing. The left 87% are working for government agencies, the financial sector, health and social services, education and retail.

In 1961, the ecological footprint for the United States showed that 0.6 planets would have been needed to support the American lifestyle at the time. By the year 2000, that number had doubled to 1.2 planets, and by 2013, that number more than tripled to 3.9 planets.

According to the 2014 Living Planet Report, assembled together by the World Wildlife Fund, the Global Footprint Network, and the London Zoological Society, the global average is 1.5 planets. The United States ranks eighth among the world's highest consuming countries.

"It is the way we live and the way we have arranged our society that gives us the large ecological footprint. Our country consists of roadways, cities, and crop fields with hardly any nature", said Gitte Seeberg, spokeswoman for the Danish World Wildlife Fund.

The top three least sustainable are Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, each requiring about 4.8 planets to preserve their lifestyle.

Denmark, a country that acquires 41.2% of its energy from alternative energy sources and sensitive to ecological issues, is fourth, requiring 4.5 planets.

With the U.S. economy so much relying on consumerism, there is the local sourcing movement, people making the attempt to purchase products that are made in their own area. It supports sustainability on a local level. There is a simple living movement where people have accepted a lifestyle that needs less things and less space.

It does not mean that people have to accept some kind of Spartan lifestyle, but it means that people need to be more aware of what impact their living habits have.