More than one billion people around the world will participate in Earth Day today. First organized in San Francisco in 1970, it’s a day designated to promote awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. How well do you treat this planet? Here are some interesting facts to increase your knowledge and inspire you to conserve, recycle and reduce.
14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year.
80% of what consumers throw away is recyclable; however the recycling rate is only 28%.
The amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
If every American household switched to compact florescent light bulbs, the energy saved could power an entire city.
Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees. Recycled paper requires 64% less energy to produce than making paper from virgin wood.
Only 30% of all newspapers are recycled. If every newspaper was recycled, 250,000,000 trees could be saved each year.
5 billion aluminum cans are used each year. It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones. Recycling one aluminum can will save enough energy to run a computer for 3 hours or a TV for 2 hours.
The average American consumes 167 bottles of water a year. 80% of plastic bottles are not recycled.
An average of 2 gallons of fuel per day is burned by the world’s 500 million automobiles.
One gallon of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of water.
Cigarette butts are the #1 source of litter on our beaches. Every cigarette butt that’s thrown out a car window takes one to five years to decompose.
Half the world’s tropical and temperate forests are now gone.
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it's high time we have to change our habits into more eco-friendly ways...
ReplyDeleteevery individual have the responsibility to save Mother Earth !!!