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Crazy/Scary Green Facts

post #1 of 5
3/31/08 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 

All the time I come across factoids in the media and some impact me more than others. Which one shocks you the most and why? I'll start:

 

With less than five percent of the world’s population, the U.S. consumes 26 percent of global oil, 25 percent of coal, and 27 percent of natural gas. –Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2003

 

I don't know how much I have to explain in terms of why that's a bit shocking. I understand that America has a tremendous amount of output as well and that other countries use the things that we consume energy to make, etc. but still...

 

Some facts about waste and waste reduction are here, but contribute whatever moves you the most.

 

 

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post #2 of 5
3/31/08 at 11:37am

Yeah that one always blows me away.  Similarly, we're responsible for 20-25% of worldwide CO2 emissions.  Americans tend to try and point the finger at China because they've probably surpassed us as the #1 CO2 emitter, but they have more than 4 times our population, plus we've been emitting high levels of CO2 for a long freaking time.

 

And then we're the one industrialized nation not to ratify Kyoto.  It just boggles the mind.


Edited by dana1981 - Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:38:01 UTC
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post #3 of 5
4/8/08 at 12:48am

Deej - thanks for the Metro link. A great resource for facts that I can glean from and incorportate into presentations as a Master Recycler.

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post #4 of 5
4/30/08 at 3:08pm
Thread Starter 

Stins posted this fact a few days ago, so I'm going to add it here - I think this could be a cool thread if people add facts as they hear them (I always forget to).

 

Incorrect tire pressure is responsible for the production of an additional 18.4 metric tons of CO2 which end up in the atmosphere each year.

 

We can translate the figure in to wasted fuel as well: about 8 BILLION (with a 'b') liters of fuel wasted per year. Moreover, 55 million tires per year are thrown away because of premature wear and tear due to incorrect pressure.

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post #5 of 5
4/30/08 at 3:11pm

We use 36.5 billions rolls of toilet paper in the U.S. each year, this represents at least 15 million trees pulped. This also involves 473,587,500,000 gallons of water to produce the paper and 253,000 tons of chlorine for bleaching purposes. The manufacturing process requires about 17.3 terawatts of electricity annually. Also, there is the energy and materials involved in packaging and transporting the toilet paper to households across the country.

 

(from the bidets vs. toilet paper DOTD)


Edited by dana1981 - Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:15:56 UTC
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