The Page That Counts :: Winter 2003

Document Actions

posted Dec 31, 2002

Known varieties of apples lost between 1903 and 1983: 86.2%
of lettuce: 92.8%
of asparagus: almost 98% (1)

Number of gallons of water required to produce one car: 105,000

Number of gallons of wastewater produced by computer manufacturers in the US each year: 79 billion

Number of gallons of bottled water sold in the year 2000: 22.3 billion

Tons of plastics used by the bottled water industry each year: 1.5 million (2)

Photovoltaic energy generation worldwide in 1980: 6.5 megawatts
In 2001: 390.5 megawatts

Wind energy generation worldwide in 1980: 10 megawatts
In 2001: 24,800 megawatts (3)

Estimated increase in US prescription drug spending between 1998 and 2000: 40%

Best-selling category of prescription medicines in 2000: antidepressants (4)

Difference in student test scores between classrooms with the most daylighting compared to those with the least: 7% to 18% (5)

Increase in per capita higher education spending in Texas from 1980 to 2000: 37%

Increase in prison spending: 401%
Three states with highest increases in prison spending: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas (6)

Percentage of women in the US who will have one abortion by age 45: 43

Percentage of abortions worldwide that are performed illegally: 43 (7)

Percentage of gay/lesbian couples who split up during a 12-year comparative study of 84 couples: 20
Of straight couples: 40 (8)

Number of cigarettes consumed in industrial nations in 1962: 1,546 billion
In 2001: 2,201 billion

Number of cigarettes consumed in developing nations in 1962: 625 billion
In 2001: 3,186 billion (9)

Rank of the year 2000 among years from 1968 to 2000 for accidental oil spills: lowest

When spills from deliberate attacks on tankers, oil fields, and pipelines are included: highest(10)

Increase in memory retention of gum-chewers over non-chewers during testing: 35%(11)

Sources: 1. Andrew Kimbrell, Fatal Harvest, Foundation for Deep Ecology, 2002, pp59,75,79 2. Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, Blue Gold, The New Press, 2002 pp8,142, 143 3. “Energy,” Trends Datasets Index, Signposts 2002: Envisioning the Future, Worldwatch Institute 4. Future survey, v23, no6, June 2001, p15 5. Daylighting Initiative Condensed Report, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 1999, p4 6. Debt to Society, www.motherjones.com/prisons/atlas.html 7. Facts in Brief: Induced Abortion, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, Feb. 2000, http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html 8. Jerry Large, Seattle Times, April 14, 2002, seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestlife/134436124_jdl14.html 9. “Population and Health,” Trends Datasets Index, Signposts 2002: Envisioning the Future, Worldwatch Institute 10. Vital Signs 2002, Worldwatch Institute, p68 11. Chewing your way to a Better Brain, Northumbria News and Events, March 2002 http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/whats/news/news_archive/gum_0302.htm