Dn dn facts

Approximately 20 million people across the United States celebrated the first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970 !oday, more than 1 billion people aro"nd the #orld ta$e part in the e%ent &n 199' o%er 200 of the #orld landfills #ere f"ll Each person thro#s a#ay approximately ( po"nds of )arba)e per day Approximately ' million tons of oil prod"ced in the #orld each year ends "p in the ocean !he ener)y #e sa%e #hen #e recycle one )lass bottle is eno")h to li)ht a traditional li)ht b"lb for fo"r ho"rs &n, 19*1, Albert Einstein, collected a +obel ,ri-e for is #or$ in solar and photo%oltaic experimentation E%ery ton of paper that is recycled sa%es 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil, (,100 $ilo#atts of ener)y, * 2 c"bic yards of landfill space and .0 po"nds of air poll"tion 1( billion po"nds of trash is d"mped into the ocean e%ery year /(0 of all ho"sehold #aste can be recycled 1ore than 12* of all ener)y is "sed by people at home 1ost families thro# a#ay abo"t // po"nds of plastic e%ery year E%eryday in the United States, #e prod"ce eno")h trash to e3"al the #ei)ht of the Empire State 4"ildin) !he 5reat ,acific 5arba)e ,atch is a s#irlin) %ortex of #aste and debris in the ,acific 6cean !his area is t#ice the si-e of the continental US and is belie%ed to hold almost 100 million tons of )arba)e !he h"man pop"lation has )ro#n more in the last '0 years than it did in the pre%io"s ( million years

7ohn 8erschel, a 4ritish astronomer, con%erted solar po#er by "sin) a solar collector box to coo$ food #hile on an African expedition, in 1/*0 &n some elementary schools, after 8allo#een and 9hristmas, Earth Day is the third lar)est celebrated holiday 6ne in fo"r mammals is at ris$ of extinction : 7/0 of marine mammals are threatened by accidental deaths s"ch as )ettin) ca")ht in fishin) nets intended for other species At least '0 million acres of rainforest are lost e%ery year, totalin) an area the si-e of En)land, ;ales and Scotland combined A%era)e temperat"res #ill increase by as m"ch as 12 de)rees <ahrenheit by the end of the 21st cent"ry if )reenho"se )as emissions contin"e to rise at the c"rrent pace &f the entire #orld li%ed li$e the a%era)e American, #e=d need ' planets to pro%ide eno")h reso"rces A #orld record #as set in 1990 #hen a solar po#ered aircraft fle# (0.0$m across the USA, "sin) no f"el &n one ho"r more s"nli)ht falls on the earth than #hat is "sed by the entire pop"lation in one year April 22 is the first official day of Sprin) in the +orthern hemisphere and of <all in the So"thern hemisphere and #as chosen to be Earth Day for this reason 1ore than 20,000,000 8ershey=s >isses are #rapped each day, "sin) 1** s3"are miles of tinfoil All that foil is recyclable, b"t not many people reali-e it 6nly 110 of the earth=s s"rface is "sed to )ro# food &f e%ery ne#spaper #as recycled, #e co"ld sa%e abo"t 2'0,000,000 trees each year Unfort"nately only 270 of all American ne#spapers are recycled A hi)hli)ht of the ann"al Earth Day ceremony at the United +ations is the rin)in) of the ,eace 4ell that #as )i%en to the U+ by 7apan &t is made from coins )i%en by school children to f"rther peace on o"r planet

4y "sin) rene#able ener)y so"rces to pro%ide yo"r daily ener)y needs #e can decease 962 emissions #ith 20,000 po"nds less of carbon dioxide each year, incl"din) '0 po"nds of nitro)en oxide less, and 70 po"nds of less s"lf"r dioxide omitted into o"r atmosphere Americans thro# a#ay eno")h al"min"m to reb"ild o"r entire commercial fleet of airplanes e%ery * months !he U S is '0 of the #orld=s pop"lation b"t "ses 2'0 of its nat"ral reso"rces ;e "se one million )allons of oil e%ery t#o min"tes 1ore than 100 million Americans li%e in "rban areas #here the air is officially classified by the E,A as "nsafe to breathe !he US has less than (0 of its forests left (00 of o"r #ater#ays are "ndrin$able 200,000 people a day are mo%in) to cities from en%ironments that no lon)er s"pport them Accordin) to the +ational Academy of Sciences, on a%era)e there are 27 oil spills e%ery day some#here in the #aters of the #orlds ?esidential la#ns and )ardens are do"sed #ith /0 million po"nds of chemical pesticides and 70 million tons of fertili-ers ann"ally &t #o"ld cost abo"t @1* billion ann"ally to satisfy the #orld=s basic sanitation and food re3"irements !hat=s ro")hly e3"i%alent to #hat Americans and E"ropeans spend on perf"me and colo)ne e%ery year Each year Americans alone thro# a#ay 1/ billion disposable diapers &n perspecti%e, this is eno")h to extend from the earth to the moon and bac$ 7 times <ord 1otor 9ompany indicates that 7'0 of e%ery %ehicle is recyclable &n 1 year, the earth #ill tra%el 1 . million miles in its ann"al Ao"rney aro"nd the S"n, the ( .Bbillionth s"ch ro"ndBtrip &t #ill rotate abo"t its axis exactly once