Our Pollution

Air pollution costs the US as much as $40 billion annually in health care and lost economic productivity.

The automobile is responsible for 60% of the total air pollution in most US cities. Cars emit 69% of the lead, 70% of the carbon monoxide and are responsible for 60% of the ground ozone.

Each gallon of gas burned releases 22 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In a year, the average car emits 5 tons of carbon dioxide into the air. With over 120 million automobiles in the US, automobile emissions account for 33% of all carbon dioxide and 45% of all nitrous oxide released into the sky, making the car the single largest contributor to global warming.

Lighting accounts for 25% of North America electricity use. Substituting a florecent light for a traditional bulb can keep a half ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere over the duration of the lightbulb's lifespan.

Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw materials reduces air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%.

American's use approximately 2.2 billion pounds of pesticides every year. Research shows that target pests will eventually develop resistance to these pesticides anyway.

Seventy three different kinds of pesticides have been found in groundwater, which is potential drinking water.

Each year US factories spew 3 million tons of toxic chemicals into the air, land, and water.

Homeowners use up to 10 times more toxic chemicals per acre than farmers.

The cost of one nuclear weapons test alone could finance the installment of eighty thousand hand pumps, giving third world villages access to clean water.

Estimated cost of cleaning up the 24,000 contaminated federal nuclear facilities range from $100-400 billion according to the EPA.

PCB's haven't been used in the US for 3 decades, but dangerous levels of PCB's remain in the natural environment and pose a threat to human health.

In the US, 41% of all insecticides are used on corn. Eighty percent of these are used to treat a pest that could be controlled simply by rotating the corn for one year with any other crop.

OUR WASTE

95% of our solid waste is disposed of in almost filled landfills and one of every two of those landfills desperately needs repair so it won't leak.

Recycling one aluminum can saves an amount of energy equivalent to half of 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% of all paper produced in North America, 90% of all glass, and 11% of all aluminum.

The US generates approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste a year. That's 4.3 pounds per person per day.

If just 25% of US families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month we would save over 2.5 billion bags a year.

The average college student produces 640 lbs of solid waste each year, including 500 disposable cups and 320 pounds of paper. At the current pace, we'll be generating 222 million tons of waste by the year 2000.

Paper cups consume trees, water, and chemicals, and dump them into streams and landfills. Paper cups are often wax-coated which are not recyclable and it reduces their biodegradability further. Paper products make up over 40% by weight, slightly higher by volume, of this country's municiple solid waste, by far the largest contributor.

Every year we throw away 24 million tons of leaves and grass. Leaves alone account for 75% of our solid waste in the fall.

Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil.

About 1% of US landfill space is full of disposable diapers, which take 500 years to decompose.

OUR RESOURCES

More than 25 million acres of arable and pasture land, the source of 98% of the world's food, are critically degraded and abandoned each year.

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.

The US makes up less than 5% of the total population on earth, yet we currently consume over 30% of all the resources.

It takes 1,400 pounds of water to produce one pound of food.

For the $25 it might cost you to insulate the average 12-window, two door house, you could save 10% or more of your yearly heating bill.

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.

The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that more than half of the wetlands that exsist in colonial times, about 100 million acres, have been detroyed, with many thousands of more lost each year.

Water system regulations and drainage for agriculture and urban development have been the major cause of loss of over 50% of the wetlands in countries all over the world, including the US, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, Niger, Chad, Tanzania, India, Vietnam, and Italy.

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.

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 on most houses by up to 20%.

One ton of carbon dioxide that is released in the air can be prevented by replacing every 75 watt light bulb with energy effecient ones.

In less than 100 years over half of the forest has now been cut and burned, leaving whole areas bare and unprotected. Over 50 million acres of tropical rain forest are destroyed every year, enough trees to fill all of England and Scotland combined.

Four days of global military spending, which is estimated to run about $8 billion, could finance a five-year action plan to protect the world's remaining tropical rain forests.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 1995 reached the highest level ever recorded--29,000 square kilometers--an area equilalent to New Jersey and Connecticut, in a single burning season.

63,000 square miles of rainforests are being destroyed each year.

When you visit a phamacist, one in every four purchases will have come from a tropical forest.

Every year approximately 4 billion tons of carbon accumulates in the air, about 30% of this comes directely from the continued burning or the rainforestss.

OUR SOCIETY

A child born in the industrial world consumes and pollutes more over his or her lifetime than do 40 children born in developing countries.

The impact of the average US citizen on the environment is approximately 3 times that of the average Italian, 13 times that of the average Brazilian, 35 times that of the average Indian, 140 times that of the average Bangladeshi, and 250 times that of the average sub-Saharan African.

More than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day. The wealthiest 1/5 of the world's people control about 85% of the money, the poorest 1/5 about 1.4%.

During the last 30 years the number of children living in poverty has increased by nearly 30%.

Nearly 15 million children die each year of malnutrition and starvation.

Amount the US spends on weight-loss programs each year: $35 billion

Amount needed to eliminate starvation and malnutrition in the world: $19.25 billion

The wealthiest 300 people in the world have greater riches than the 3 billion poorest.

The 3 wealthiest people have greater riches than the 48 poorest countries put together.