Earth day is upon us and it’s a good time to reflect on our earth home and what we can do to preserve its longevity.
Learning facts can inspire us all to make changes.
DID YOU KNOW:
1. Every year in the U.S. nearly 200 billion beverage containers are sold, two-thirds of which are landfilled, incinerated or littered. – Earth Day Facts
2. Recycling, reuse and remanufacturing account for 3.1 million jobs in the U.S. – Earth Day Facts
3. Recycling saves 3 to 5 times the energy that waste incinerator power plants generate. – Earth Day Facts
4. By reducing our waste 1% per year and recycling and composting 90% of our discards by 2030, we could save 406 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year. This is the equivalent of shutting down 21% of our nation’s coal-fired power plants.
5. The garbage in a landfill stays for a for about 30 years.
Here is an example of how long it takes some things take to break down:
*plastics take 500 years,
*aluminum cans take 500 years,
*organic materials, take 6 months,
*cotton, rags, paper take 6 months
6. In 1995 over 200 of the world landfills were full.
7. Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day.
8. The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours
9. For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals.
10. Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save many trees. – Recycling Facts
11. Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees. – Recycling Facts
12. The amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years. – Recycling Facts
13. It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones. – Recycling Facts
14. 5 billion aluminum cans are used each year. – Recycling Facts
15. 84 percent of all household waste can be recycled. – Recycling Facts
16. Computers pose an environmental threat because much of the material that makes them up is hazardous. A typical monitor contains 4-5 pounds of lead. – Recycling Facts
17. Each year billions of used batteries are thrown away in the United States. This constitutes 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium deposited into our landfills. – Recycling Facts
18. We dump 19.4 billion pounds of plastic into the ocean every year.
19. An estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year.
20. Earth is 2/3 water. but all the fresh water streams only represent one hundredth of one percent. – Recycling Facts
Here is an example of the water we use every day:
*3-7 gallons for toilet,
*25-30 gallons for tub,
*h20 50-70 gallons for a 10-minute shower,
*1 washing machine load uses 25-40 gallons,
*1 dishwasher load uses 9-12 gallons
It’s said that more than 99 percent of species that have ever lived on the planet have gone extinct. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, there are more than 830 species that have done so, among them the dodo bird, great auk and Pyrenean ibex.
Sometimes it is easy to get lost in our daily lives and forget how simple things we do can have a dramatic effect on our environment. Earth day is a great day to start recycling more, reusing more, composting more, conserving more, and doing more to protect our planet.
