The Page That Counts :: Fall 2000

Number of mosquitoes a pipistrelle, Britain⤙s most common bat, eats on a warm summer night: 3,000 (1)

 

Amount of water per day Americans use to flush toilets: 4.8 billion gallons (2)

Percentage of daily water use saved during Sigmota, Sweden⤙s annual Pee Outside Day: 50 (3)

 

Current gasoline prices in dollars per gallon in Germany: $3.86

in the United Kingdom: $4.81

in the United States: $1.64 (4)

 

Percent of teens who say parents don⤙t spend enough time with their children: 73 (5)

 

Speed a mountain lion can sprint: 35 mph

Distance a mountain lion can leap: 40 feet

Height a mountain lion can jump: 12 ⤓ 15 feet

Average number of deer a mountain lion eats ⤉per year: 50 (6)

 

Number of baby boomers who will turn 50 every minute from now until 2014: 7 (7)

 

Percent of the world⤙s wealth controlled by the top 500 corporations in 1997: 42 (8)

 

Amount Coke or Pepsi will pay schools per student for exclusive sales rights on campus: $10⤓$20 (9)

 

Yield of genetically engineered soy plants compared to non-engineered plants in a recent study by the University of Nebraska: 6⤓11% lower (10)

 

Estimated percent of insects, nematodes, worms, and fungus species that have been discovered: 10%

Estimated percent of bacteria and other microorganism species discovered to date: 1% (11)

 

Share of all bird species in danger of extinction: 11%

Share of all fish species in danger of extinction: 34%

Share of all mammal species in danger of extinction: 25% (12)

 

Number of vertebrate species who depend on prairie dogs for food and/or habitat: 59

Birds: 20

Mammals: 21

Reptiles: 5

Amphibians: 4 (13)

 

Ratio of goods and services consumed by an average American compared to an average Chinese: 50:1 (14)

 

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Sources: 1) The Bat Conservation Trust, www.bats.org.uk; 2) ⤜Unleash the Rivers,â¤? Time,  April/May, 2000; 3) ⤜Troubled Waters,â¤? Utne Reader, July/August, 2000 (water facts from New Internationalist, April 2000; 4) The Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2000; 5) The Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 2000  (citing a YMCA poll: ⤜Teen Topline Data Reportâ¤?); 6) www.nrdc.org/features/default.asp www.nrdc.org/features/default.asp; 7) ⤜Don⤙t Call Them Seniors,â¤? American Demographics, May 2000 (citing AUTHOR?? American Incomes: Demographics of Who Has Money, New Strategist Publications, 3rd ed., PLACE, YEAR??) ; 8) ARTICLE TITLE? Adbusters, Winter 2000; 9) ⤜Make Your School an Ad-free Zone,â¤? Adbusters, Winter 2000; 10) Geoffrey Lean, ⤜Research Backs Charles: GM Crops Don⤙t Deliver,â¤? The Independent, June 11, 2000; 11) ⤜Vanishing Before Our Eyes,â¤? Time, April/May 2000; 12) State of the World 2000, PLACE AND PUBLISHER??; 13) ⤜The Prairie Dog Wars,â¤? Mother Jones, January/February 2000 (citing Bureau of Land Management statistics); 14) David Pimentel et al, ⤜Will Limits of the Earth⤙s Resources Control Human Numbers?â¤? Environment, Development and Sustainability, Cornell University, September 1999