Quick Facts November 10, 2009

• If just 25% of US families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we would save over 2.5 billion bags a year.
• 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. Deserts are advancing and taking over the land. In Mali the desert has taken over about 220 miles in as few as 20 years.
• 63,000 square miles of Rainforests are being destroyed each year and already over half of the world’s tropical forests have been lost.
• While the US makes up only 5% of the world’s population, it produces 72% of all hazardous waste and consumes 33% of the world’s paper.
• 80% of the world’s forests are gone.
• 2000 trees a minute are cut down in the Amazon alone. That is 7 football fields a minute.
• Every day 50 to 100 species of plants and animals become extinct as human activities destroy their habitat.Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades.
• The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century’s last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia.
• Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting — for example, Montana’s Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910.
• Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier.
• Increasing global temperatures affect levels and seasonal patterns of both man-made and natural air-borne particles, such as plant pollen, which can trigger asthma. About 300 million people suffer from asthma, and 255 000 people died of the disease in 2005.
• Even if CO2 emissions stabilize at 450 ppm in the next few decades, the Earth’s temperature will still continue to increase, causing dangerous climate events. Some ecosystems will be permanently and irreversibly damaged.
• Cars and light trucks account for 40% of US oil use and contribute about as much to climate change as the entire Japanese economy — the world’s fourth-largest carbon emitter.

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch November 5, 2009

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Eastern Garbage Patch or the Pacific Trash Vortex, is agyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135° to 155°W and 35° to 42°N and estimated to be twice the size of Texas. The patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of suspended plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography because it consists of very, very small pieces, almost invisible to the naked eye and most of its contents are suspended beneath the surface of the ocean.

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