Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 8

If the entire world lived like the average American, we’d need 5 planets to provide enough resources. Even if you’re the most dedicated treehugger out there, if you’re American, your carbon footprint is still double the per-capita average of most of the world. Though America would have to reduce our carbon-emitting habits by 83% in order to be sustainable, that’s not quite as insurmountable as it sounds. A shift toward renewable energy, conservation, more efficient waste management and greater concentrations of people living in dense urban communities will go far toward decreasing our carbon footprint as a nation.

CREDITS: ALL MIND-BOGGLING FACTS & STATISTICTS TAKEN FROM: http://webecoist.com/2008/11/26/amazing-frightening-green-facts-environmental-statistics/ THESE WERE ONLY SOME OF THE ONES THAT CAPTURED MY ATTENTION BUT THERE IS MORE THAN THIS TO IT.

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 7

The human population on earth has grown more in the last 50 years than it did in the previous 4 million years. It took almost all of human history – until the early 1800s - to reach a global population of 1 billion. Today, we’re at over 6.7 billion and adding an estimated 74 million people to the planet every year. In fact, the United Nations believes that we’ll reach 9 billion by 2050. Such a large population will put a huge strain on already stretched resources, making severe food and water shortages far more likely.

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 6

One in four mammals is at risk of extinction. Marine mammals in particular face even steeper odds, with one in three threatened. Humans are mostly to blame as we’ve encroached upon their habitats, polluted the earth and hunted far too many of them. The problem is especially bad in Asia, where agricultural expansion and development of infrastructure has led to a staggering statistic: 79 percent of the continent’s primate species face extinction. Across the world, 78 percent of marine mammals are threatened by accidental deaths such as getting caught in fishing nets intended for other species.

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 5

Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil, 4,100 kilowatts of energy, 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space and 60 pounds of air pollution. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough electricity to power a TV for three hours, and aluminum cans can be recycled an unlimited number of times. Recycling a ton of glass saves the equivalent to 9 gallons of oil. Increasing steel recycling by 50% would save the energy equivalent to 7 nuclear power plants. These statistics show just how important recycling really is, and how much we need to ramp it up.

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 4

Within 10 years, wind power could provide 20% of America’s power.North Dakota alone could theoretically produce enough wind-generated power to meet the needs of more than a fourth of U.S. electricity demand. And, offshore wind turbines have the potential to produce as much power as all of the power plants in the United States. America definitely needs a new modernized power grid to harness wind energy, but as T. Boone Pickens points out, “If the government commits to modernizing our nation’s power grid in the same fashion that we modernized our highways, we can make some serious progress in a relatively short time.”

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 3

America is the queen of trash. Every day in the U.S., we produce enough trash to equal the weight of the Empire State Building. We throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour, produce enough styrofoam cups annually to circle the earth 436 times and trash enough office paper to build a 12-foot wall form Los Angeles to New York City. We throw away 570 disposable diapers each second, and toss out enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months. Each year we fill enough garbage trucks to stretch from Earth halfway to the moon.

And of course, not all trash even makes it to the landfill. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a swirling vortex of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean, covers an area twice the size of the continental U.S. and is believed to hold almost 100 million tons of garbage.

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 2

Less than 1% of the world’s freshwater is readily available for human use. The amount of water that’s safe for us to use is declining sharply due to pollution and contamination. 87% of freshwater resources are used for agriculture, as much of 60% of that is wasted due to inefficient watering systems.

With the population boom and global warming, we’re going to be fighting over water by mid-century. In fact, in Asia – where water has always been considered an abundant resource – per capita availability of freshwater has declined by 40%-60% between 1955 and 1990, and most Asian countries are expected to have severe water shortages by 2025.

Despite these problems, many people – Americans and Australians in particular – are wasting water as if it will always be plentiful. The average American uses far more water than citizens of other countries – about 550 liters per day. The average American household uses 300 gallons of water daily, with many wasting thousands of gallons every year on lawn irrigation.

Mind-Boggling Green Facts & Statistics - 1

Oxygen-starved dead zones that cannot sustain life now cover an area roughly the size of the state of Oregon. Spanish researchers alsorecently found that many species die off at oxygen levels well above what is now considered uninhabitable, suggesting that the extent of dead zones in coastal areas is greater than previously known. Dead zones are caused by excess nitrogen from farm fertilizers, factory and vehicle emissions, sewage and other pollution runoff.

Going Green & Our Economy

Whether it's hybrid, electric, or biofuel, the change to a cleaner & long term future in transportation is coming along. It may have needed a jump start from rising oil & gasoline prices, but the future is here & it looks bright. At first, the few hybrids on the roads only seemed to be taking hold in the "hippie" households. But before long, Toyota was handling backorders on the Prius & they were becoming more & more popular on the roadways. Now it's a difficult task to try and drive to your local supermarket without passing a few of these odd looking vehicles. And this is a good sign, both for our environment & for our economy. You may ask yourself why this is good for toureconomy because yes, Toyota is a foreign auto maker. But this proves that a shift in the auto market is drastically approaching & our American auto makers better get on board. While it took them a while to get the ball rolling, our hometown auto makers are progressively working toward alternative fuel vehicles. This means that while a lull may have currently hit our economy in all sectors, once the ball is up to full speed down the "green" hill, our economy will take off. The American work force is full of smart, intelligent business people who know the future is in cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles. And I fully expect our economy to show just how bright our citizens & businesses are by being the global leader in all things green. Our economy looks very bleak right now, but hold faith that the world's new found love with the green movement will be the saving grace for our economy. Our cities & states will breath cleaner air while our businesses reap the monetary rewards for their green ideas & innovations.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1093072/going_green_our_economy.html?cat=3

Going Green: Legislature Looking to Turn Trends into Law

Do you think that the green revolution is just a trend? According to this article at My Suburban Life, many green initiatives that companies have been implementing mostly to save costs might soon become, by law, necessary actions that all companies in a given industry must take. Green initiatives make sense from both an environmental aspect and the long-term cost-savings aspect. If companies want to be leaders in their given industries, they ought to look to implement as many green initiatives as soon as possible. It’s not just simply the right thing to do, it also puts them ahead of the curve when some of these green initiative items become law…and that helps lead to a decisive competitive advantage.

So check out the article : http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/lemont/homepage/x805329095

Sustainable Development

Scheme of sustainable development: at the confluence of three constituent parts [1]

(environmental, economic, social development)

Sustainable development
Excerps from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ;see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development

Environmental law

Theory
Earth jurisprudence

Intergenerational equity

Polluter pays principle

Precautionary principle

Public trust doctrine

Sustainable development

Specific issues
Asbestos

Brownfield land

Illegal logging

Poaching · Unlawful fishing

Mitigation of global warming

International environmental law

Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System

War and environmental law

Instruments of Environmental policy
Ecotax · Market-based instruments

Environmental impact assessment


Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[2][3]
Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity. As early as the 1970s "sustainability" was employed to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems."[4] Ecologists have pointed to the “limits of growth”[5] and presented the alternative of a “steady state economy”[6] in order to address environmental concerns.
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and sociopolitical sustainability

1 ^ UCN. 2006. The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in

the Twenty-first Century. Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29-31

January, 2006 http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_future_of_sustanability.pdf
2 ^ United Nations. 1987."Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development." General Assembly Resolution 42/187, 11 December 1987. Retrieved: 2007-04-12
3 ^ Smith, Charles; Rees, Gareth (1998). Economic Development, 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Macmillan. ISBN 0333722280.
4 ^ Stivers, R. 1976. The Sustainable Society: Ethics and Economic Growth. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
5 ^ Meadows, D., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. 1971. The Limits to Growth. New York: Universe Books.

6 ^ Daly, H. E. 1973. Towards a Steady State Economy. San Francisco: Freeman. Daly, H. E. 1991. Steady-State Economics (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

A Seven Point Beginner's Guide to Going Green

A 7-Point Beginner’s Guide to Going Green Written by Sara on August 18th, 2008 - Topics: Food and Health, Geography and Travel, Home and Garden, Tricks and Hacks, Vehicles and Transit
Going green: where to start?
If you are interested in living a more eco-friendly lifestyle, this is for you. We hope you will find WebEcoist to be pleasantly free of politics and we’ll never tell you to eat granola, hug a tree or vote for the Greens. You don’t even have to switch to tofu. The great thing about modern green living is that there is truly room for every lifestyle – from green consumers to chic eco mamas to tech-obsessed geeks. Modern green living is for people interested in living harder, better, faster, stronger (to paraphase Daft Punk). If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place. Do you view life as an ongoing learning experiment?
Then here’s what you need to do to go green:
1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
This classic mantra is still the most important one. Next to the crisis of climate change, resources (particularly petroleum, water and food) are getting ever more scarce. We must relearn the “three R’s” – and we’re not talking about grammar school. There are literally thousands of things you can do, large and small, to help the environment. Most of them benefit you in addition to helping the planet. Some are cheap, some are expensive, and many are free. But before you go and purchase carbon offsets or consider a hybrid, first just shift your mindset. Reuse, reduce, recycle – it’s fundamental for anyone who wants to go green.
Getting started: just begin observing your daily habits and purchases. Do you need to throw everything away? Is there something permanent you could use instead of that disposable version? Can you donate, compost, or trade that widget? Once you make the mental shift from a NIMBY (not in my backyard) approach that is wasteful and careless, you’ll be ready for higher-level greening. Ready for more? Read on for the overview. In future posts we’ll bring you detailed breakdowns of everything you need to go green – but this summary will help you know what to expect.
2. Transportation
We’re not only running out of accessible petroleum reserves – the global political climate isn’t exactly friendly to gas prices. If you didn’t worry about the environmental effects before, the cost of filling up the tank has just about everyone looking for ways to save green. Come back soon to find tips for mass transit that doesn’t suck, carpooling that doesn’t kill, and telecommuting that your boss actually goes for. You’ll also learn about the more extreme and wacky tips you might want to try, from hyper-miling to alternative modes of transport. It’ll be good for the planet and your wallet, too.
Getting started: Simply begin exploring your options. If you can purchase a hybrid or more fuel-efficient car, that’s great. Try asking your boss about telecommuting a few days a week, and take advantage of mass transit if you have access in your area.
3. Shopping
Purists may deride “eco products” as nothing more than greenwash or a new marketing opportunity, but consider:
- We are consumers and that’s not going to change soon.
- Some of the latest and best green innovations are coming from consumer-driven trends. Buying organic jeans is not going to save the planet, but green consumption is helping to “mainstream” green living. Besides, green these days is pretty cool. You won’t believe how hard you can geek out on all kinds of green tech, green gadgets, and green hacks. Think longer battery life. Think a water container that won’t give you cancer, soap that doesn’t dry your skin out and a safer toilet-scrubbing experience. And be sure to let us know what kind of consumables you’re interested in greening. Since many products can be made at home, we’ll also be sharing DIY money-saving tips for many necessities.
Getting started: look for fair trade, organic, and eco-friendly labels or certification on goods you buy. Choose local meat, dairy, and produce when you can. Try not to buy “fast fashion” and needless gadgets that are cheap but will soon fall apart. Invest in quality over quantity. Buy your furnishings and electronics used when you can. Read your favorite magazines and books online instead of choosing print versions. Avoid plastic when a sustainable alternative is available such as wood, metal, fiber or bioplastic.
4. Food
Green grub is not just tofu and organic carrots. Really. In future posts, you’ll learn about the foods you don’t have to buy organic and cheap ways to buy the ones you do. You’ll learn about food miles and whether local is really best. You’ll find out how you can be a green steak lover. Green food should be healthy, cheap, delicious and accessible – and it can be, so stay tuned.
Getting started: for now, start shopping at the farmers’ market for your veggies because they’ll be a lot cheaper and healthier and safer. Eat a vegetarian dinner one day a week. Cut back on the soda, fast food and other overly-packaged and processed junk. You don’t have to do it all at once – try going “100% whole food” one day a week to start.
5. Your Pad
The home is the easiest place to start greening. There are literally hundreds of relatively easy home hacks – many free and most inexpensive. (Note that we will be providing in-depth guides to you super DIY’ers out there who want to get extreme. Bookmark this page and check back in the future for updated links to new posts.)
Getting started: you can switch dead light bulbs with CFLs, buy a programmable thermostat, toughen up a little and adjust your heat and A/C by two degrees of comfort, buy a compost bucket, and give up disposables like paper plates and paper towels. You can also use eco-friendly detergent, carpet cleaner, soap, plant fertilizer, pet food…it goes on and on! Many of these things you can make yourself for pennies. Which helps to offset the cost of that LED plasma.
6. Lifestyle
This ties into Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but goes a little deeper. Is your laundry green? What about your workplace? Are you greening your travel? What gifts can you give at holidays that aren’t going to hurt the environment (without annoying your friends and family)? Look for upcoing lifestyle guides that go beyond generic clichés and address green solutions for every kind of lifestyle. So you have an SUV and there’s no way you can trade it in for what they’re offering – no problem. You can still be green. Maybe you are addicted to the latest gadgets, or you’re a die-hard designer shoe girl. Maybe you refuse to give up your burgers. That’s O.K. – there is a green way of doing things for every lifestyle. No challenge is impossible to solve with creativity, investigation, and a little bit of humor. If you think that’s too ambitious, you’re probably not in the right place. But if you are excited by new, innovative ideas and solutions with a positive point of view, stick around.
Getting started: Get out a notebook and write down the following: how often you travel; how often you dine out; how many family members/dependents you have; how far you drive to work; where you shop for your food, clothing, household products and electronics. This will give you a pretty good idea of your lifestyle. You should also figure out your carbon footprint. Don’t worry; no changes to make yet. Simply take stock of how you live so you can make smart changes down the road.
7. Habits
This is a bit different from lifestyle; the lifestyles people lead – based on family size, location, profession and so on – are diverse. But habits are more about the daily actions we take, often without thinking. You will find helpful tips, hacks and tricks in the future to live a little greener without too much stress. Sane green living is the goal. Whether it is turning off your lights or saving water, check back weekly for new tips.
Getting started: like “reduce, reuse, recycle”, simply make it a goal to consciously think about your habits this week. Do you order take-out or do you shop at the farmers’ market and prep your veggies for fast meals during the week? Do you shop at stores that use sweat shop labor to produce their goods, or do you look for products that are either fair-trade certified or made in the U.S.A.? Do you buy heavily processed junk food on a regular basis or do you try to avoid it? What cleaning products are you using? Simply start thinking about your habits. There are so many habits where, with slight modification, you can quickly reduce your carbon footprint.
Of course, this is simply an overview of the areas where you “green up”. You might want to bookmark this post and come back for links to more in-depth articles in the future.

http://webecoist.com/2008/08/18/a-beginners-guide-to-going-green/

Global Warming

blog.lib.umn.edu/ellis271/arch1701/bigstockph...

Global Warming / Project Millenium Development
Global Warming is an environmental issue that is continuing to harm our planet. The definition of Global Warming is “the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation��? (wikipedia.org) which means that if in the winter the snow melts faster than it snows then there has to be something wrong with Earth because how else can you explain average temperature for many years that change one year? The answer is Global Warming. It is dangerous and unless we as people investigate more into the causes of Global Warming and how to prevent Global Warming then the world would over heat and eventually burn.
For further examples there are icebergs melting in Antarctica and Alaska for nothing other than Global Warming because those icebergs are what those places are known for and for all of sudden to begin melting gradually year after year is astounding and frightening all at the same time. There are singers, such as Sheryl Crow, that have had songs that dealt with telling audiences about Global Warming, that it is real and beginning to surface. In Melbourne, Fl they “endured 24 days above 95 degrees and Tampa remained above 80 degrees F at nighttime for 12 days��? (climatehotmap.org).
There are steps to prevent Global Warming such as “minimizing drafts in your home, reducing your waste electricity use, using more efficient light bulbs, turning down your water heater, and being the change you wish to see��? (energyefficienthomearticles.com). These are simple steps to help make the world a better place. Doing your research on Global Warming and what other organizations are doing in order to prevent Global Warming is important because we as people caused Global Warming slowly but surely and we need to learn how to prevent it from continuing to happen.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/78817

PLEASE

Watch this interesting TV commercial about Global Warming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XBQDAhHBig