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Good morning and HAPPY EARTH DAY 2009!
Annually, April 22 is a day set aside to honor the Earth. But, every day is Earth Day, and some of the things that will happen 365 times in a year are listed below. Not all of them can continue indefinitely.
Just a few things to consider, as you have that cup of coffee in the Styrofoam cup or having that sip of “bottled” water….
- The population of the world will grow by 211,000 people. A new Akron, Ohio will be added every day.
- 40,000 acres of land, an area about the size of Boise, Idaho will be converted to desert.
- 200 million tons of topsoil will be lost through erosion from croplands.
- 50,000 acres of forest will be eliminated.
- Between 20 and 500 species will disappear from the planet forever. We know so little about the family of life to which we belong that we cannot quantify the damage we are inflicting upon it. We do know that extinctions are occurring 100 to 1,000 times faster than the normal background rate.
- People will consume more than 3 billion gallons of oil.
- Burning the oil and other fossil fuels will release 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, slowly but surely nudging the planet’s temperature upward.
- 3 million tons of iron ore, 575 thousand tons of tin, 330 thousand tons of bauxite (for aluminum), and 34 thousand tons of copper will be ripped from the Earth.
- 800 million people will go to bed hungry and awake too weak to lead productive lives.
- 18,000 children will die from chronic hunger, malnutrition, and related diseases.
One thing is certain: the world of today will be different tomorrow – and the day after that, and on and on ad infinitum. The question is not whether we must learn to live sustainably, but how fast we can do so.
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
