The Page That Counts :: Summer 2008

Percentage of plastic bags that end up in the trash: 99

Percent reduction of plastic bag use in Ireland after the government began taxing bags in 2002: 95 [1]

 

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Number of days of workers’ paid vacation or other leave mandated by the U.S. government: 0

Number of other developed countries that have no paid leave requirement: 0

Number of days of paid annual leave granted to Japanese workers, the second lowest among developed nations: 10

Proportion of U.S. workers who receive no paid leave or paid public holidays: 1 in 4 [2]

 

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Number of years scientists believed the Jurassic shrimp neoglyphea neocaledonica had been extinct, before finding a living specimen in the Coral Sea in 2006: 50 million

Percentage of coral reefs protected by law from poaching, extraction, and human-caused habitat destruction: less than 2 [3]

 

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Number of dollars the U.S. government spends annually on renewable energy research: 1.5 billion

Number of dollars of revenue ExxonMobil generates in one day: 1 billion [4]

 

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Number of dollars the federal government spent on contracted paper shredding in 2000: 452,807

Number of dollars spent on shredding in 2006: 2.9 million

Number of dollars spent on shredding in the first half of 2007: 2.7 million [5]

 

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Number of New Yorkers who “saw something and said something,” following the advice of public transportation anti-terrorism posters: 1,944

Number of terrorists arrested due to these reports: 0

Percentage increase in risk of cardiovascular disease between someone who does not worry about terrorism versus someone who does: 300-500 [6]

 

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Lies told by top Bush administration officials leading up to the Iraq war: 935 [7]

Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons: 4.5-5 million [8]

Percentage of women and girls working as prostitutes in Damascus, Syria, who are Iraqi refugees: 70-80 [9]

 

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Miles per gallon a car got in a 1973 contest sponsored by Shell: 376.59 [10]

 

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Potential dollar amount of sales of green products in 2008: 104 billion

Percentage of adults who have difficulty finding the green products and services they’d like to buy: 42 [11]

 

 

 

More Page That Counts
		Winter 2008 Percentage of Iranians who favor normal relations and trade with the United States: 68 Percentage of Iranians who strongly support a democratic system: 79 Read more...				Spring 2008 Amount by which U.S. rice production was subsidized in 2003: $1,279,000,000 Percentage of Honduran rice farmers who have lost their jobs due to U.S. rice dumping: 92 Read more...

 

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1. "Plastic-Bag Planet," Liz Stevens, Fort Worth Star Telegram, 23 June 2004.
   http://www.newdream.org/about/mediaclips/fwstjune2304.php
   
   
2. “No-Vacation Nation,” Rebecca Ray and John Schmidt, The Center for Economic and Policy Research, May 2007.
   http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1184
   
   
3. “Census of Marine Life 2006 Highlights,” 2006.
   http://www.eepublishers.co.za/view.php?sid=7569
   
   
4. “Global Warming by the Numbers,” Environmental Defense Action Fund, January 22, 2008.
   http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=7533
   
   
5. “Bush Secret Shredding Soars,” John Cook, Radar, December 14, 2007.
   http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/12/bush-secret-shredding-soars.php?f=1
   
   
6. “Living in Fear and Paying a High Cost in Heart Risk,” John Tierney, The New York Times, January 15, 2008.
   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15tier.html
   
   
7. “False Pretenses,” Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith, The Center for Public Integrity.
   http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Default.aspx?source=home&context=overview&id=945
   
   
8. “The Iraqi Displacement Crisis,” Refugees International, March 3, 2008.
   http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9679
   
   
9. “Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria,” Katherine Zoepf, The New York Times, 29 May 2007.
   http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/world/middleeast/29syria.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all
   
   
10. “Hybrids, Meet Your Rival – It Gets 376.59 mpg,” Mike Lewis, The Seattle Times, February 20, 2008.
    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/351903_needle20.html
    
    
11. “2007 National Technology Readiness Survey,” as cited in "National Survey Finds Consumers Likely to Spend $104 Billion on Green Technology Products Per Year," Robert H. Smith School of Business, March 12, 2008.
    http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/ntrs/