Your Environment

All over the world people have become more environmentally aware and understand the need to preserve the earth's precious resources. Here are just a few environmental facts that may interest you.

• If just 25% of U.S. families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we would save over 2.5 BILLION bags a year.
• On average, the 140 million cars in America are estimated to travel almost 4 billion miles in a day, and use over 200 million gallons of gasoline doing it.
• 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.
• 1% of U.S. landfill space is taken up by disposable diapers which take 500 years to decompose.
• Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for 3 hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline.
• Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually consuming more than 850 million trees.
• Turning down your central heating thermostat one degree cuts consumption by as much as 10%.
• Insulating your attic reduces the amount of energy loss in 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 bulbs with energy efficient bulbs.
• Every day 40,000 children die from preventable diseases.
• The human population of the world is expected to triple by the year 2100.
• A 3% annual growth rate will result in the doubling of consumption and production of food and other products in 25 years.
• The world's per capita grain production has been on the downfall since 1985 despite the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
• Every day 50 to 100 species of plants and animals become extinct as their habitat and human influences destroy them.
• The uncontrolled fishing that is allowed has reduced the amount of commercial species. Some species, up to one-tenth of their original population.

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