Earth Month Day 14: Why Go Green By the Numbers

I recently read an article on Treehugger's website that I thought I would share - this will really make you think about the impacts we are having on our planet and why going green really does matter!


Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/how-to-green-why-to-go-green.php


Why to Go Green: By the Numbers


•1 pound per hour: the amount of carbon dioxide that is saved from entering the atmosphere for every kilowatt-hour of renewable energy produced.

•60 percent: the reduction in developmental problems in children in China who were born after a coal-burning power plant closed in 2006.

•35 percent: the amount of coal's energy that is actually converted to electricity in a coal-burning power plant. The other two-thirds is lost to heat.

•2.5 percent: the percentage of humans' carbon dioxide emission produced by air travel now, still making it the largest transportation-related greenhouse gas emitter.

•5 percent: the percentage of the world's carbon dioxide emissions expected to be produced by air travel by the year 2050.

•1.5 acres: the amount of rainforest lost every second to land development and deforestation, with tremendous losses to habitat and biodiversity.

•137: the number of plant, animal and insect species lost every day to rainforest deforestation, equating to roughly 50,000 species per year.

•4 pounds, 6 ounces: the amount of cosmetics that can be absorbed through the skin of a woman who wears makeup every day, over the period of one year.

•61 percent: the percentage of women's lipstick, out of the 33 tested, found to contain lead in a test by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

•36: the number of U.S. states that are anticipating local, regional or statewide water shortages by 2013.

•1 out of 100: the number of U.S. households that would need to be retrofitted with water-efficient appliances to realize annual savings of 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

•3 trillion: the number of gallons of water, along with $18 billion, the U.S. would save each year if every household invested in water-saving appliances.

•64 million tons: the amount of material prevented from going to landfill or incineration thanks to recycling and composting in 1999.

•95 percent: the amount of energy saved by recycling an aluminum can versus creating the can from virgin aluminum. That means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material. Energy savings in one year alone are enough to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years.

•113,204: the number, on average, of aluminum cans recycled each minute of each day.

•3: the number of hours a television set can run on the energy saved from recycling just one aluminum can.

•40 percent: the percentage of energy saved by recycling newsprint over producing it from virgin materials.

Sources: Consumer Reports, Environmental Health Perspectives, Raintree Nutrition, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and EPA Water and EPA Recycling, Worldwatch Institute, Energy Information Administration, Ready, Set, Green, Earth911.org, The Telegraph, Yahoo! News