| Did You Know... |
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The purpose of these little
tidbits of knowledge is to shock you and inspire you to learn
more, get involved, and make a difference in your community.
* That cars add 20 pounds of CO2
per gallon of fuel burned which in turn is adding to global
warming. The average car uses about 500 gallons of fuel a year.
* That the two major sources contributing to global warming
are 80% from a car’s CO2 release and the rest from deforestation.
* That the world only has 800,000 square miles of forest and
that these forests can only absorb 1 billion tons of CO2 a
year. By the way, we produce 24 billion tons now and that number
is steadily increasing.
* That 80% of a tin can is saved when you recycle it.
* That in 1990 the hole in the ozone was the height of Mt.
Everest and the width of the United States.
* That 4/5 of all the illness in non-industrialized countries
in from a waterborne disease.
* That each day, because of a growing population, 3500 acres
are bulldozed each day.
* That Americans throw out 2 billion disposable razors each
year.
* That only about 8% of the oil from the Valdez oil spill has
been removed from that area.
* That over 9000 gallons of water is flushed down the toilet
a year, with only about 130 gallons being body waste.
* That thanks to modern science, and their pesticides, farmers
lose only 33 percent of their crops due to pests. Before pesticides
were used farmers lost 33 percent.
* That if we were to take all the oil from the Arctic wildlife
refuge it would only last from a few months to a maximum of
24 years.
* That if we were to build solar panels and cover up the whole
state of New Mexico- we could produce enough clean energy for
the whole world.
* That rivers, estuaries, and coastal zones
are polluted by sewage and industrial waste.
* That a single
acre of tropical rain forest supports 60 to 80 species of trees.
* That at the percent rate
of global warming the earth's temperature will increase by
3 to 8 degrees in the next 50-100 years.
* That the world natural
gas reserves will last only a little more than 60 years if
we keep going at present rate.
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* That 75-80% of
American people believe there should be a national effort to
help our environment.
* That over 100,000 people die each
year from skin cancer.
* That as of the end of the 20th century only two U.S. paper
mills use 100 percent recycled paper.
* That 80 million people live in areas that exceed standards
set by the E.P.A.
* That photo places produce 50+ percent of all toxic chemicals.
* That every year desertification claims an area the size of
West Virginia.
* That more than half of U.S. working people live within biking
distance of their job.
* That two nuclear bombs were exploded over Japan but on Shoshone
Tribal Grounds 670 bombs were exploded.
* That the Food and Drug Administration allows small quantities
of cancer causing agents to be in your food.
* That at this time there is only one type of plastic that is
truly recycled, and that would be plastic bags.
* That in 1989 only 22 percent of churches in America teach about
the environment. But as of 1990 that figure increased to 70 percent.
*
That the pentagon produces twice as much hazardous waste as does
the top three industrial waste producers.
* That eventually all
landfills will leak.
* That an incinerator can spew out toxic
over a 60 to 65 mile radius from the stack.
* That incinerators
are hurting recycling efforts providing an alternative to recycling.
*
That in 1990 Japan had a traffic jam 84 miles long.
* That in
America it is estimated that we cut down 2 million trees a day.
*
That if we started using landfills and rotting vegetation for
natural gas we could replace all needs for oil.
* That worldwide,
children die every minute from starvation.
* That every year Americans
throw away enough paper to build a wall 12 feet high from New
York to Los Angeles.
* That Americans throw away enough aluminum
in three months to build an entire commercial airlines.
* That Americans throw 240 million tires out each year.
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* That there are
more than 3000 chemicals added to our foods.
* That the Galapagos
turtle was, at time, so prevalent on the Galapagos Island,
that you could walk from one side of the island to the other
and never touch the ground.
* That it will take 50 years and
50 billion dollars to clean up all the nuclear weapons plants.
*
That 90% of toxic waste is disposed of improperly.
* That the
U.S. produces 400 million tons of industrial waste a year.
*
That Mile High Stadium in Denver is built on a landfill.
* That
using recycled materials helps reduce acid rain.
* That 80%
of all ivory products comes from poaching.
* That 100 million
animals are killed each year for their fur.
* That there are
only 800 giant pandas in existence.
* That there are only 36
Florida panthers in existence.
* That there are 40 Australian
hairy nose wombats in existence.
* That the rhino is the most
endangered mammal in Asia and Africa.
* That there are 4,000
rhinos left in the world.
* That in the U.S. 45% of our animals
and 25% of our plants are on the endangered or threatened species
list.
* That recycling old paper uses less water than making
paper from Virgin trees.
* That there is only 500 female of
the Kemp Riley sea turtle in the world.
* That a healthy tree
can remove around 25 to 45 pounds of carbon from the air a
year.
* That a balloon released into the air can kill the whales
and sea turtles. They mistake it for jellyfish. They come to
the surface, attempt to swallow the balloon, and it gets stuck
in their mouth.
* That if the ozone decreases by one percent
there will be 20,000 new cases of skin cancer.
* That most cities cannot meet needs for drinking water and
sanitation.
Do we have your attention? Do
you feel concerned about what you just read? Perhaps a particular
point really hit home for you. That's great! Why not learn
all you can so about it, and then help us to make a difference. |
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