Happy Earth Day! Yes, today is the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day. I’ve written several blogs about this day, but thought one more was in order. Here are a few interesting facts to think about on Earth Day:
An acre of tropical forest is lost each second.
Americans are among the worst environmental culprits. Although we only make up 5% of the Earth’s population, we use 33% of the paper produced and put out 72% of all hazardous waste.
Americans also use 25% of the world’s energy and every two minutes, we use one million gallons of oil.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified the air for more than 100 million Americans in urban areas officially unsafe to breathe.
Just recycling one aluminum can save the energy it takes to power a television for three hours.
The U.S.’s recycling program has grown from just 600 curbside programs in 1988 to over 9,000 with 12,000 drop-off centers. Our recycling rate has increased from 17% to 30%.
The vehicles in the U.S. emit 314 metric tons of CO2 each year. That is like burning the amount of coal it would take to fill a 50,000 mile long freight train.
Each year, the EPA estimates that Americans spend about $25 billion on lawn care, including 80 million pounds of pesticides and 70 million tons of fertilizer.
Here’s a sad statistic about world hunger: According to Global Issues, about $13 billion is what it would take to offer basic sanitation and food to the people of the world. That is the amount Americans and Europeans spend each year on perfume and cologne.
Each year, 1.3 million acres of unpaved land in America is paved. If you are wondering how big that is, it is almost twice the size of the Hawaiian Islands.
The disposable diapers in our landfills can take up to 500 years to decompose.