Fast Facts
References are to Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy (listed by page number) and to the blog WebEcoist: http://webecoist.com/2008/11/26/amazing-frightening-green-facts-environmental-statistics/ (cited as WebEcoist).
Green Economy
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough electricity to power a TV for three hours.(WebEcoist)
Within ten years, wind power could provide 20% of America’s power. North Dakota alone could produce enough wind-generated power to meet the needs of more than a fourth of US electricity demand. (WebEcoist)
70% of water used by human beings goes to irrigate crops. (62) As much as 60% of freshwater resources used for agriculture is wasted due to inefficient watering systems.(WebEcoist)
Geothermal power offers a bright future for energy. 1% of Australia’s geothermal power could provide enough energy to last 26,000 years, and geothermal power is one of the lowest priced forms of renewable energy. (WebEcoist)
Eating local food is the equivalent of cutting household energy use by 20%. (66)
USDA Census of Agriculture says that smaller farms produce more food per acre, whether it’s measured in tons, calories, or dollars. They use land, water, and oil much more efficiently; and manure is used rather than act as a threat to public health. (67)
A pound of grapes from Chile effectively gives off six pounds of carbon dioxide. (65)
In the last four decades, the amount of food shipped between countries has multiplied by four while human population has barely doubled. (65)
75% of apples consumed in New York City come from the West Coast over overseas, even though New York State produces ten times as many apples as the residents of the city consume. (65)
To package a box of breakfast cereal requires 7 times as much energy as the cereal contains. (65)
Just Sustainability
If the entire world lived like the average American, we’d need 5 Earths to provide enough resources. (WebEcoist)
At the current rate of economic growth in China, the 1.3 billion residents of that nation alone will be as “rich” as we are by 2031. (18)
If the Chinese drove cars at the rate we do, they’d have 1.1 billion on the road—that’s half of the current world total. (19)
If the Chinese ate meat, milk, and eggs in the same quantities we do, they’d consume over two-thirds of the world’s current grain harvest, and they’d use 99 million barrels of oil a day- 20 million more barrels than the entire world consumes per day at present. (18-19)
If the Chinese used paper at the American rate, they’d consume double the current world production. (19)
1 in 7 people in the world do not get enough food to be healthy. The United Nations believes that human population will reach 9 billion by 2050. (WebEcoist)
Five companies control 75% of the global vegetable seed market because many foods are genetically modified to prevent seed saving. (53)
An average temperature rise of just 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit would bring extreme food and water shortages, and cause floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at the current pace, average temperatures may increase by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st century. (WebEcoist)
At least 50 million acres of rainforest are lost every year, totaling an area the size of England, Wales, and Scotland combined. Experts predict half the remaining Amazon rainforest may be destroyed by the year 2030. More than 50% of all living creatures on the earth reside in tropical rainforest, so with rainforest destruction they’re disappearing at a rate of 100 species per day. (WebEcoist)
There is a patch of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It covers an area twice the size of the continental U.S. and is believed to hold almost 100 million tons of garbage. (WebEcoist)
1 in 4 mammals is at risk of extinction due mostly to habitat destruction and pollution. Marine mammals are at risk 1 in 3. (WebEcoist)
Healthy Communities
Less than 1% of the world’s freshwater is readily available for human use and the amount that’s safe is declining sharply due to pollution and contamination. (WebEcoist)
The average density of cities, suburbs, and towns in 1920 was about 10 people per acre. In 1990 it had dropped to 4 people per acre, even as the US population doubled. The most recent housing developments are only 2 people per acre. (97)
The average new house has doubled in size since 1970, even as the number of people living in it has steadily shrunk. (97)
76 million Americans fall ill annually from food-borne illness; 300,000 are hospitalized, 5,000 die. (61)
One farm in Utah, with 1.5 million pigs, has a sewage problem larger than that of the city of Los Angeles. (60)
In North Carolina, pigs outnumber citizens and produce more fecal waste than California, New York, and Washington combined. (60)
Many workers in chicken factory farms will lose their fingernails within two to three weeks from the bacteria in the chicken fat. (59)
Workers in factory farming industry now face a one-in-five chance of severe disability or death on the job. (58)
Nine of the ten counties in the US with the lowest per capita income are in farm states west of the Mississippi. (57)
Four multinational companies control over 70% of fluid milk sales in the United States. The merger of Philip Morris and Nabisco in 2000 created a food conglomerate that collects nearly 10 cents of every dollar an American consumer spends on food. (53)
The number of produce suppliers to the average supermarket chains has fallen from 800 in 1987 to fewer than 80 today. (53)
Every day in the US we produce enough trash to equal the weight of the Empire State Building. And Americans throw away equivalent to 570 disposable diapers each second. (WebEcoist)
Win some green by helping IUPUI go green!
The deadline for the fall Common Green Contest is quickly approaching.
Have you read your pages this week?
Pp. 162 - 172: "Direct Democracy"
Latest Blog Entry
Since happiness has increased with income in the past, we assumed it would do so in the future. However, it is a fallacy. McKibben’s aim in Deep Economy is relatively modest. It is to change minds, to present a new mental model of the possible. He suggests more progress toward local economies. His analysis of localization for food, radio, and energy, can be applied to almost any commodity. If we start thinking a little differently we can do the same for our democracy.
Bill McKibben, "Pursuing Prosperity and Local Sustainability"
Monday, Nov. 9,
CE – Campus Center Room: 450
