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In love of Mother Earth |
17 Comments |
| By Matt Mayer in Green Living, Green facts | April 22, 2007 | ||
In honor of Mother Earth today on Earth Day I thought I would post a list of alarming statistics that I’ve compiled. Enjoy
- One crop of hemp grown on one acre of land produces the same amount of pulpable fiber as one acre of 20 year old trees.
- While the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s population, we produce 72% of all hazardous waste and consume 33% of the world’s paper.
- The United States is responsible for almost 25% of the world’s total energy consumption. We use one million gallons of oil every two minutes.
- Energy currently wasted by U.S. cars, homes and appliances equals more than twice the known energy reserves in Alaska and the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
- We could cut our nation’s energy consumption in half by the year 2030 simply by using energy more efficiently and by using more renewable energy sources. In the process, we would promote economic growth by saving consumers $2.3 trillion and by producing one million new jobs.
- When just 1% of America’s 140 million car owners tune up their cars, we eliminate nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide – the key cause of global warming – from entering the atmosphere.
- Of the trash that we Americans throw away every day, 30% by weight is packaging alone. In 1993, we threw away 14 billion pounds of plastic packaging. How much do you think it is now?
- Running a refrigerator and freezer for one year can produce as much pollution as driving a car from Chicago to Las Vegas.
- Every minute, 37,000 empty soft drink bottles are thrown away in the United States.
- Every year we throw away 24 million tons of leaves and grass. Leaves alone account for 75% of our solid waste in the fall. See more.
- Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil.
- About 1% of U.S. landfill space is full of disposable diapers, which take 500 years to decompose.
- By turning down your central heating thermostat one degree, fuel consumption is cut by as much as 10%.
- Insulating your attic reduces the amount of energy loss in most houses by up to 20%.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves an amount of energy equivalent to half that can filled with gasoline.
- Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.
- North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
- Every year some 45,000 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world’s oceans.
- One of the results of this is that up to one million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals are killed each year by plastic trash such as fishing gear, six-pack yokes, sandwich bags, and styrofoam cups.
- Packaging accounts for 50 percent of all paper produced in North America, 90 percent of all glass, and eleven percent of aluminum.
- The United States generates approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year. That’s 4.3 pounds per person per day.
- Food waste includes leftover portions of meals and trimmings from food preparation activities in kitchens, restaurants and fast food chains, and cafeteria. Food waste is the third largest component of generated waste (after yard waste and corrugated boxes) and second largest component of discarded waste, after yard waste. The amount of food waste generated in the waste stream has increased by 1.2 million tons in the last 25 years, this is one of the lowest increases on a percentage basis of any component of the waste stream.
- Paper cups consume trees, water, and chemicals, and dump them into streams and landfills- they are not re-cyclable. Paper cups are often wax-coated which reduces their bio-degradeability futher. Paper products make up over 40 percent by weight , slightly higher by volume – of this country’s municipal solid waste, by far the largest contributor. Paper Recycling and its role in Solid Waste Management. Every year nearly 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
- The Earth’s limited supply of natural resources will only be able to sustain 2 billion humans by 2100, bad news for a world that already feeds 5.9 billion.
- Farm animals consume nearly half the world’s cereal produce. Growing grain to feed animals to turn them into meat is an inefficient business- an acre of cereals can produce five times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production.
- The United States makes up less than 5 percent of the total population on earth. Yet, we currently consume over 30 percent of all the resources.
- If every gas-heated home were properly caulked and weather-stripped, enough natural gas would be saved each year to heat another 4 million homes.
- Simple heavy drapes attached to windows with a valance could save about $10 per window in heating costs each winter.
- Organic farming can save up to 50% of energy, according to studies. Using manure can save 80% of the energy consumed by using synthetic fertilizers.
- The cost of one nuclear weapons test alone could finance the installation of eighty thousand hand pumps, giving third world villages access to clean water.
- In the US, 41% of all insecticides are used on corn. 80% of these are used to treat a pest that could be controlled simply by rotating the corn for one year with any other crop.
Please be kind to her. She’s all we’ve got.
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tyler said,
The Earth will be perfectly OK regardless what temp. it is at or how much ice there is. All YOU are concerned with is your own personal little habitats. Your worried that you may be personally inconvenienced, this is selfishness at its worst.
Who cares whether it is natural or man made… either way the earth is changing.
Those who live to blame this on man do so cause if they are right, in their tiny frightened minds it means they can fix it…. This is the same arrogance that got us to where we are today.
You decided to play(too much) and now you realized there are reactions to you actions. Just sit back and enjoy yourselves it appears that’s all people are good for anyway.
Know in your hearts that the Earth will be here long after we are gone and life (maybe no humans) will flourish as it always has.
Tyler Goines
4-22-07
michael said,
Dude, Tyler, that’s it! We should all just kick back, forget about attempting to change some of humanity’s major faults, and just screw, consume, and let the world continue to spin as is.
Look, even if the Earth is changing naturally, it should not mean that everything is okay. If such a doomsday scenario is coming, then we must do everything we can to prepare. Taking your advice and just “sitting back” is ridiculous.
How is wanting to protect your family and life selfish? Apparently, you’re a computer because the last thing a living being does is accept fate. You fight. You find a way to conquer. Otherwise, nature deals with you and the strong survive.
Good luck.
Terrance said,
Interesting list of statistics. My first thought upon reading it is “What am I gonna do about all that?” Over at Change It we’re encouraging people to commit to what they can change about their lives to make a difference in all the things you listed above.
There isn’t anything any one of us can do alone, but enough people making even the smallest changes can make a difference that wouldn’t be made otherwise.
Matthew said,
It seems like corporations are slowly starting to change the way they do business. Well, except for Dominion Power, which remains one of the worst polluters in the S&P 500. I’m working with Virginians for Sensible Energy Policies to stop Dominion from constructing a series of power lines in Virginia and to demand Dominion change its carbon emissions policies.
There will be a rally in Boston outside of Dominion’s annual shareholders meeting this Friday. We expect to have a great turn out! More info is available here.
James Britton said,
I think I’m going to shoot myself…
What a depressing list of statistics! The 21st century is do or die time and the US needs to lead the way by instituting major policy changes in food production (i.e. The Farm Bill and elimination of agriculture subsidies) and energy policy.
Tyfus said,
You forgot one: 47% of all statistics is made up by people trying to further their own cause.
Tyfus said,
By which I don’t mean to say we should disrespect our planet, of course. Just be careful where you get your figures.
riri said,
OMF god… I feel so guilty. If only the writer had put in some comparisons. Then I would know that:
*All the US garbage from the last century, and for many years to come could fit in an 18×18 mile landfill site, and not a very deep one at that!
*The figure about being able to sustane 2bn in 2100 if JUST WRONG!
*Most of the paper used in the US (98%) comes from sustainable plantations. If you want more trees, recycle less. Then farmers plant more trees, and there are… more trees. Not that it makes much difference. Global warming is bad bad science, and algae in the oceans make most oxygen, not trees.
*All of the points relating to food and organic food and recycling are either wrong, or improperly and incorrectly presented, without the figures that bring them into proportion
*A billion pounds of carbon dioxide sounds impressive, but is next to nothing.
*Read the fifth point carefully. It makes little to no sense… Just buzwords strung together. How does using renewable energy reduce energy use? Unless it is because most renewable sources are inefficient, and thus more expensive. I’ll stick with nuclear or coal, thank you very much. An a side point, there are fewer radioactive emmisions from nuclear plants than from coal.
*Many of the “improvements” suggested are worse that the dissease. It would be cheaper for example, to but more natural gas than to insulate old houses. THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE!
People should’t feel guilty about consuming resources. If 5% of the population consumes 30% of the world’s resources does it realy matter? No. When other countries grow and become affluent the problem solves itself, by either making resources more expensive, and spreading them evenly, or finding equal or better substitutes, which make everyone better off. The world will only run out of resources if they shoot them into space. Otherwise, nuclear and solar power can provide all the energy we need, and the minerals ect? Like steel and aluminium? Why not mine the dumps? The thing is that the economy and economic forces generaly take care of all this, and by denying people their rights to consume resources by laws or taxes, you worsen all humanity. Ask the starving africans what they prefer: more recycled paper produced uneconomicaly by govt. subsidised programms, or the food and education that could lift them out of their poverty forever and I’d say they would chose the latter, even if paid for with money used to encourage paper and plastic recycling.
If anyone is interested, I would recomend reading “The Sceptical Environmentalist”, by Bjørn Lomborg. It is very good.
Hate me? Feel the need to flame? Curious and want more information? Email me at:
screen ta riri dot e4ward dot com
replace ta with the @ symbol, dot with . and remove all the spaces. And think before you write.
Chris said,
Yes, Tyler, the Earth will still be there, whether it be a rocky wasteland or a smoldering ruin. Who cares? every human being should, plus the millions other creatures that are dying and will die in the future, your a complete moron
Tyler Goines said,
I’m back…. mind you I see these fake tree huggers everyday pile into their cars and destroying the planet everyday. Once a year all are earths friend. most of these earth people are true fakes. thats my point not screw the earth. by the way the earth will be thriving after we are gone….. stop being so arragant…….. the world won’t be a dead rock just because your’re not here any more
– Tyler Goines
05 01 07
Craig said,
Em I like riri’s comment “The world will only run out of resources if they shoot them into space. Otherwise, nuclear and solar power can provide all the energy we need, and the minerals etc? Like steel and aluminium? Why not mine the dumps?”
If you keep using resources then yes we will run out, no need to shoot them into space. I understand that we can find new oil wells and dig older ones with new technology but oil demand is increasing and will slow down and run out eventually that’s logical nothing can last forever its like pouring water from a cup, it’ll eventually stop. Once we run out of crude oil the worlds stock markets will crash as oil will reach between £100-£200 a barrel. This would slow economies and energy wars would ensue to claim the last of the resources. It happened to the UK last year with gas when Russia cut off our pipelines for 2 days and we almost ran out and prices quadrupled straight away, they’re using that line as a political tool, look it up.
I like your idea that we can build nuclear but all the machines we use to mine are oil driven and mostly made out of oil products and yes burn oil to mine. So no oil means no minerals means no power plants. Not to worry, I can live in the dark, I don’t need all my electrick gizmos as long as I have some food and water. Nope loads of pesticides are made from petro chemicals so crops would not be as big as before so starvation and the like would ensue, mainly the poor would die that’s always the way, maybe some fascist movement could arrise from the poor, usually does too. Sounds like a doomsday and Ill most likely be dead before it kicks in but yeah we need to stop using so much oil or you yanks do. I also hope you know that American economies are falsely stimulated to give you horribly cheap petrol, lucky Iraq are now helping you out after the invasion to give you another 30 years of oil, still that’ll run out too and then its petrol prives like the rest of the world. I pay 98 UK pence a litre almost £2.00 a lot is tax but its more accurate a reflection of petrol. Ps mine the dumps is a not bad idea.
stay green =)
Matt Mayer said,
Statistics are merely a tool to be used to publish and point out trends. If you look at one of these stats by itself it can represent anything. For example, I could rearrange stat #2 to say “67% of all the paper consumed in the world is consumed by nations other than the United States.” By doing that you’ve twisted around the stat a little and thus changed it’s meaning. The point of statistics is to display trends, and as an overall picture here the trend suggests that Americans are living in an unsustainable manner which we need to modify to reflect a new paradigm of global impact of our actions.
No longer can we happily motor around in our cars and assume that we aren’t impacting others in this interconnected world we live in. We are robbing the future from our children to pay for our lazy, irresponsible ways today. That is what Earth Day is about to me. It’s a day of reflection for me where I prefer to think about how I’m impacting the world. I feel that I’m mostly alone in this regard.
Riri–I hate to say this, but so much of your information is just so wrong that it’s hard to even discuss it. You seem to ignore the prospects of our world ever running out of resources, even though we know it’s happening already. You’re ignoring all the proven signs that exist today telling us how we are destroying the earth. You’re ignoring all the starving people from overpopulation, the destruction of rain forest to make cheap hamburgers for us to enjoy in America and also using what little soil we have left to grow corn in the Midwest to fuel our cars. You’re ignoring the fact that already diseases which were nonexistent 50 years ago are running rampant through our cultures.
I hate that you’ve reached this point. Even though I fall onto the green side of debates I still maintain an open mind on subjects, but I think your’s has become closed and this closure isn’t allowing you to really see what’s in front of you. I hope this clears up soon. I fear that soon we will all realize the errors of our ways, and that’s what I’m most frightened about.
rake said,
The earth is all f%&&** up now no matter what you do. Even if we stop using oil, recycle paper, grow plants, we will somehow find a different way to pollute it….
Green Skier said,
Saving the environment and, in particular, combating climate change won’t be easy. That doesn’t mean, however, that we shouldn’t try. The more people who are willing to make changes and lobby others to do the same, the better chance we have.
We shouldn’t give up. We should try harder.
Emily said,
I was wondering if anyone knew how many tons of paper are used to produce paper cups in the US every year?
Wenchypoo said,
Bringing the conversation up to 3/23/08:
Nobody’s going to change their lifestyle, especially global warming fanatics, because they’ll just CARBON OFFSET their way into eternal grace–this means they’ll continue to drive large SUVs with only one occupant, live in energy-wasting McMansions, and have multitudes of babies that will use squintillions of disposable diapers and jars of unnecessary baby food, not to mention mountains more boxes of organic frozen TV dinners and various entrees (in the belief that they’re eating better) because they’re just too busy to really buckle down and consume less.
“Do as I say, not as I do.” Who said that? I don’t know, but a whole lot of it’s being practiced in this “global crisis” world, starting with Reverend Al (Gore). Green is now just another word for SELLING POINT and EASY PROFIT because it’s a marketing ploy rather than an actual cause.
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