You and the Environment What do you know? Start by listing everything you think of as a resource in 1 minute and 30 seconds.

The way we produce, consume and dispose of our products and our food accounts for ____% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.  42%  U.S. EPA, Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices.

The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at ______pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste.  1,609

Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of ____ acres per minute.  100

Between 1950 and 2005, worldwide metals production grew sixfold, oil consumption eightfold, and natural gas consumption 14- fold. In total, 60 billion tons of resources are now extracted annually—about 50% more than just 30 years ago. Today the average European uses 97 pounds of resources daily, and the average American uses ______ pounds.  194  Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2010.

More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the United States each year, which comes out to 848 pieces per household. The production, distribution and disposal of all that junk mail creates over 51 million metric tons of greenhouses gases annually, the equivalent emissions of more than ____ million cars.  9.3  ForestEthics, Climate Change Enclosed: Junk Mail’s Impact on Global Warming.

Nearly ____% of the world’s energy comes from oil, coal, or gas.  80  Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs

At the end of 2013 there were 1,687.9 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. In 2013, the world produced billion barrels of oil (86,808 thousand barrels per day). That means that we have_______ of oil left at the current rate of production / consumption.  53.3 years

___% the world’s tropical and temperate forests are now gone.  50  U.S. EPA, Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead.

The trash vortex in the Pacific ocean is about the size of the state of _______.  Texas  an estimated six kilos of plastic for every kilo of natural plankton, along with other slow degrading garbage, swirls slowly around like a clock, choked with dead fish, marine mammals, and birds who get snared. Some plastics in the gyre will not break down in the lifetimes of the grandchildren of the people who threw them away. 

____% of marine fisheries are now overfished or fished to capacity.  75  U.S. EPA, Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead.

Americans use ______plastic bottles every hour, most of which are thrown away!  2,500,000  _some_interesting_facts_about_the_enviro nment _some_interesting_facts_about_the_enviro nment

Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as _______sea creatures every year.  1,000,000

Each year, Americans throw away ________ Styrofoam cups.  25 trillion

Coal generates ____% of our electricity, and is the single biggest air polluter in the U.S.  44  alvswind/c01.html#.VieNQytmpME alvswind/c01.html#.VieNQytmpME

Time it takes for garbage to decompose in the environment  Glass Bottle  1 million years  Monofilament Fishing Line  600 years  Plastic Beverage Bottles  450 years  Aluminum Can  years  Foamed Plastic Cups  50 years  Tin Cans  50 years  Leather  80 years  Nylon Fabric  years  Plastic Bag  years  Cigarette Butt  1-5 years  Waxed Milk Carton 3 months  Newspaper  6 weeks  Orange or Banana Peel  2-5 weeks  Paper Towel  2-4 week