Environmental Advocate's Statistics in Hand Introduction There are often times when I found it useful to quote some great fact about deforestation or energy efficiency in environmental discussions. Therefore I compiled this list of important facts about environmental degradation and the human predicament. This isn't so my web page readers can be depressed about the status of the world's poor, or how fast we are losing species in tropical rain forests. Instead, I hope these statistics will be used in environmental discussions with friends and co-workers to improve general knowledge on environmental issues. Americans commonly know that garbage is "bad" and recycling is "good", but most have no concept of how humanity is straining the earth's physical systems, and how their diet, energy consumption, and daily commute makes a substantial personal impact. They also seem to think that overpopulation is a problem of the poor, developing world. The impact of population is determined by the number of people and the average resource use per person, which means the U.S. is much more overpopulated than China. I have also tried to highlight the perverse way the U.S. government subsidizes intensive resource consumption at cut-rate prices. This does not increase jobs and allow for a strong economy, but instead provides incentives for wasteful resource use while we mine the natural capital of our nation. In order to see the full source references, please access my page at www.netcom.com/~kandm Population 1998 world population 5.9 billion US Census Bureau World yearly rate of increase 1.31% US Census Bureau World doubling rate 53 years my calculations 2030 projected population 8.2 billion US Census Bureau # women without access to family planning 230 million Alan Guttmacher Institute Cost of family planning for 300 million couples $10 to $12 billion/yr Zero Population Growth US taxes to international family planning $385 million/yr Zero Population Growth US taxes to domestic family planning $198 million/yr Zero Population Growth US taxes to military $262 billion/yr US Gov. Printing Office US taxes to non-military foreign aid $8.5 billion/yr US Gov. Printing Office 1998 US population 270 million US Census Bureau US rate of increase 0.9% US Census Bureau US doubling rate 77 years my calculations % growth due to immigration 25% Paul Ehrlich, The Stork and the Plow Affluence Children who are malnourished, world 174 million UNICEF Children's deaths, world 12.4 million/yr UNICEF # of absolute poor, world 1 to 1.4 billion Paul Ehrlich, The Stork and the Plow # w/o access to clean, safe drinking water 1.1 billion UNICEF # with no decent sanitation facilities 2.9 billion UNICEF Impact of the average US citizen is about: World Resource Institute 20 times that of a Costa Rican 50 times that of a Malagasi 70 times that of a Bangladeshi Energy Estimated date, US oil depletion 2020 Alliance for a Paving Moratorium Estimated date, World oil depletion 2040 Alliance for a Paving Moratorium Energy Source Summary: Jeremy Legget, Global Warming Energy Source Cost in US Subsidies by US Govt. nuclear 13.5cents/KWhr 16 billion oil 8.0cents/KWhr 8 billion wind 7.0cents/KWhr - increasing capacity by energy efficiency 0.5-2cents/KWhr 1 billion - To avert global warming with nuclear power by 2025 would require a new nuclear power plant every 2.5 days Jeremy Legget, Global Warming - If one year's budget for the US military force in the middle east was spent on making US buildings more heat-tight, this would save more oil than the country imports from the Middle East G. Tyler Miller Jr. - If everyone in the US used super-insulating windows, we would save more oil and natural gas each year than Alaska now supplies. G. Tyler Miller Jr. - Switching all lights to efficient fluorescent bulbs would eliminate the need for all 111 US nuclear power plants. G. Tyler Miller Jr. - Improving US domestic car efficiency from the current average of 19 MPG to 22 MPG would replace US imports of oil from Iraq and Kuwait. G. Tyler Miller Jr. - Raising the average fuel efficiency to 31 MPG would eliminate the need for any oil from the Persian Gulf altogether. Hunter Lovins, Changing America Transportation Est. cost to maintain current US roads 24.6 billion Alliance for a Paving Moratorium $ actually spend on current US roads 13.4 billion Alliance for a Paving Moratorium $ spent on new and wider US roads 16.4 billion Alliance for a Paving Moratorium US subsidies on roads and cars 300 billion Alliance for a Paving Moratorium Proj. increase in US road congestion by 2010 300% Alliance for a Paving Moratorium US auto deaths per year 47,000 Alliance for a Paving Moratorium American deaths in Vietnam war 47,000 Alliance for a Paving Moratorium US arable land covered by pavement 10% Alliance for a Paving Moratorium - US paved land area is equal to the state of Georgia Alliance for a Paving Moratorium Cost of motor vehicle air pollution damage $200 billion Alliance for a Paving Moratorium - 1 railroad track has the capacity of 4 freeway lanes Alliance for a Paving Moratorium Agriculture World arable land per capita, 1960 1.07 acres/ person Population Action International World arable land per capita, 1990 0.67 acres/ person Population Action International Proj. arable land per capita, 2050 0.37 acres/ person Population Action International Current world grain harvest could feed: R. Chen, The Hunger Report 6 billion vegans (no grain diverted to livestock) 4 billion with typical South American diet (15% calories from animal sources) 2.6 billion with "full but healthy diet" (30% calories from animal sources) - All major fishing areas have reached or exceeded their maximum sustainable yield, and half are in serious decline Paul Ehrlich, The Stork and the Plow US eroded cropland soil would bury a football field 200 miles deep each year USDA, National Resources Inventory Species Depletion Estimated species on earth 3 to 30 million People and Environment World Res. Ins. Number of species identified 1.8 million People and Environment World Res. Ins. Number of species in tropical forests 40 to 90% People and Environment World Res. Ins. Estimated species loss per decade, 1975-2015 1 to 11 percent People and Environment World Res. Ins. - The rate of human induced extinction is now estimated to be one million times faster than the rate of evolution of new species Paul Ehrlich, The Stork and the Plow Extinction rate before 1600 AD 1 per millenium Edward O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life Estimated current extinction rate 10,000/yr Edward O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life Forests World forest cover cleared since 1950 20% Lester Brown, State of the World 1995 Tropical forest destruction rate 5.4 million acres/yr Environmental Almanac - At this rate, all tropical forests will be gone within a century Environmental Almanac Current US old growth forest 51 million acres Environmental Almanac US old growth forest destruction 10,000 acres/year Environmental Almanac - At this rate, all US old growth forests will be gone in 15-25 years Environmental Almanac US Forest Service charge to timber companies $2 per tree Wilderness Society Newsletter US subsidies to commercial timber sales 224 million Wilderness Society Newsletter - Mining companies can purchase any public land that contains hard-rock mineral deposits for less that $5 per acre John Young, World Watch US solid waste per person 7 lbs/day Edward O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life US municipal solid waste is 50% packaging Alan Durning, How Much is Enough? Global Warming Carbon dioxide (CO2) conc, pre-industrialization 280 ppm International Panel on Climate Change Current CO2 concentration 360 ppm International Panel on Climate Change CO2 conc, 2100, with constant emissions 500 ppm International Panel on Climate Change Global mean temp increase, last century 0.3 to 0.6 deg. C International Panel on Climate Change Projected global mean temp increase, 1990-2100 1 to 3.5 deg C International Panel on Climate Change - The last ice age was only 5 deg C cooler than present Stephen Schneider, Global Warming Page created by: kandm@ix.netcom.com