Ecology Fast Earth Facts

• The garbage in a landfill stays for a for about 30 years.

• In 1995 over 200 of the world landfills were full.
• Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day.
• One bus carries as many people as 40 cars!
• More than 1/3 of all energy is used by people at home
• Most families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year
• We each use about 12,000 gallons of water every year
• 1/3 of all water is used to flush the toilet.
• The 500 million automobiles on earth burn an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day.
• Each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
• Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each ear ends up in the ocean.
• The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours
• For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals.
• Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save many trees
• Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years
• Earth is 2/3 water. but all the fresh water streams only represent one hundredth of one percent.
• 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year
• It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones
• 5 billion aluminum cans are used each year
• 84 percent of all household waste can be recycled.
• 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.
• 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
• Approximately only 10 percent of every landfill can be cleaned up.
• Ivory comes from dead elephants, its best not to buy it.
• Fur coats often come from endangered animals, it's best not to buy them.
• One gallon of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of water. so dispose of properly!
• Here is an example of the water we use everyday:

3-7 gallons for toilet,
25-30 gallons for tub,
50-70 gallons for a 10 minute shower,
1 washing machine load uses 25-40 gallons,
1 dishwasher load uses 9-12 gallons

• 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.

source: planetpals.com