Did You Know Facts

Most genetically engineered (GE) crops have been designed to withstand herbicides. Studies show that farmers who grow GE soybeans use 2-5 times more herbicides than farmers who grow natural soy varieties.

The "free-range" label doesn't necessarily mean the animals went outdoors.

Canada is one of the largest producers of GE crops in the world and, across the country, up to 70 per cent of processed foods found in grocery stores contain or may contain GE ingredients.

94% of Americans think GE ingredients should be labeled as such.

On February 22, 2008, the USDA, EPA and FDA announced that an unapproved variety of GE corn had been discovered in three types of commercial corn seed stock and have been planted on approximately 53,000 U.S. acres over the past two years.

Up to 220 square feet of rainforest are sacrificed to produce just one pound of hamburger.

One fourth of all drugs prescribed in the US contain derivatives from tropical rainforest plants.

"We have to find a way to make the forests worth more alive than dead... Unbelievable as it might seem, we are destroying our planet's air-conditioning system." Prince Charles in Feb 2008 to the European Parliament

A single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the entire British Isles.

A flanged steel wheel rolling on a steel rail is 10 times more energy-efficient than a rubber tire rolling on asphalt. One freight train, for example, can replace more than 100 heavy trucks, reducing labor costs, energy consumption, environmental pollution and traffic congestion.

The Japanese National Railways' Shinkansen high speed train system, between its inauguration in 1964 and 1992, had more than three billion passenger trips without a single fatality or injury. The same volume of road travel in the United States resulted in 2,000 deaths, more than $100,000 injuries and millions of dollars in damages.

In fiscal year 2001, Amtrak ridership reached an all time high with more than 23.5 million riders; about 65,000 riders a day.

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), over the decade 1990-2000, total passenger-miles carried by US public transit increased by nearly 16%, or over 6.5 billion passenger-miles. And, of that growth, approximately 84% is accounted for by America's rail transit systems.

In 8 of the last 9 years, Amtrak has seen ridership explode, driving passenger revenue up 23.23% between 1995 to 2005 (By the way, these figures also jumped significantly for commuter rail [23.5%] and light rail [52.2%])

In one study, fertility was decreased in female dental assistants who prepared 30 or more dental fillings per week.

Mercury accumulates in the kidney and the brain.

High mercury levels are reversible by limiting consumption of mercury-contaminated food, though it can take six months or more.

The "Mad Hatter" of Alice in Wonderland didn't get his name by accident. Hat-makers used to use mercury to strengthen their hats, and in the process breathed in mercury vapors.

The World Health Organization estimated that, in industrialized countries, about 3% of the total mercury consumption is for dental amalgams.

Preservatives containing Mercury are used in some vaccines.

Currently, the National Wilderness Preservation System contains 107,436,613 acres. However, only 4.74% of the entire United States-an area slightly larger than the state of California-is protected as Wilderness. Since 53% of America's Wilderness is found in Alaska, only 2.63% of the contiguous United States-an area about the size of South Dakota-is protected as Wilderness.

Alll but six states have federal designated Wilderness: Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Rhode Island.

Two other types of pollution, though less well known than air and water pollution, are affecting Wilderness ecosystems and visitor experiences. Although Congress has mandated that 'sights and sounds' may not be used as a criteria when lands are designated as Wilderness, light and sound pollution are negatively affecting Wilderness. Today, even remote areas are being exposed to increased illumination from light pollution or "sky glow," the combined lights of cities and towns, sometimes hundreds of miles away that produce a dull glow in the night sky.

There are 703 Wilderness Areas with a total of 107,436,613 acres. The smallest Wilderness is Rocks and Islands Wilderness, in northern California (5 acres), and the largest Wilderness is Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness, in Alaska (9,078,675 acres).

The first successful electric automobile in the United States was built in 1891 by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa. This vehicle was the only American automobile exhibited along with five European vehicles at the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. (See Figure 1.) Morrison's automobile was equipped with a four horsepower motor and a 24-cell battery weighing 768 pounds-more than half of the vehicle's total weight. Top speed was a breathtaking (for the time) 14 miles per hour.

In 1899, there were some 12 manufacturers of electric vehicles in the United States. In 1900, 28% of the 4,192 cars produced in the United States were powered by electricity.

Between 1997 and 2000, in response to the California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, a few thousand all-electric cars (such as Honda's EV Plus, G.M.'s EV1, Ford's Ranger pickup EV, Nissan's Altra EV, Chevy's S-10 EV, and Toyota's RAV4 EV) were produced by big car manufacturers, but most of them were available for lease only. However, in 2002, G.M. and DaimlerChrysler sued the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to repeal the ZEV mandate first passed in 1990. The Bush Administration joined that suit. Subsequently, G.M. announced that it would not renew leases on its EV1 cars saying it could no longer supply parts to repair the vehicles and that it planned to reclaim the cars by the end of 2004.

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are outfitted with a battery pack sufficient to power the vehicle from 20 to 60 miles on battery charge alone. Considering that half the cars on America''s roads are driven 25 miles a day or less, a plug-in with a 25-mile range battery could eliminate gasoline use in the daily commute of millions of Americans. The cost of an equivalent electric gallon of gas is estimated to be less than $1.00.

The EPA estimates that 136 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris was generated in the U.S. in a single year.

Green homes are expected to make up 10% of new home construction by 2010

Every business day, $464 million worth of construction registers with LEED.

The Navy was the first federal agency to certify a LEED project:

Green homes have far fewer problems with mold or mildew.

Gold mining is one of the world's dirtiest industries: it uses cyanide, generates heaps of wastes, and leaves a long-lasting scar on landscapes and communities. The production of one gold ring generates 20 tons of wastes, while 80% of all gold goes to make jewelry.

In the Peruvian town of La Oroya, site of a smelter operated by the US-based Doe Run Corporation, a study by the Peruvian Ministry of Health revealed that 99 percent of the children have severe lead poisoning, and 20 percent of these children needed urgent hospitalization. The smelter produces gold bullion bars, silver, lead, cadmium, zinc, and copper.

Smelters release tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Aluminum smelters, for example, release 2 tons of carbon dioxide and 1.4 kilos of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) for every ton of aluminum produced. PFCs have up to 9,200 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon and will linger in the atmosphere for tens of thousands of years

The EPA estimates cell phones will be thrown away at a rate of 130 million a year by 2005 that equals 65,000 tons of waste containing toxic metals!

From 1972-2003, over one trillion aluminum cans were thrown away-not recycled. That's enough to reach around the earth 3048 times or 158 times to the moon and back.

California generates more electricity from geothermal, solar, and wind energy sources than any other State, and Washington leads the Nation in hydroelectric power generation and in generation from all renewables (including hydroelectric) combined.

Biomass fuels provide about 3 percent of the energy used in the United States.

Since the early 1990s ethanol has been blended into gasoline to reduce harmful carbon monoxide emissions.

The first U.S. hydroelectric power plant opened on the Fox River near Appleton, Wisconsin, on September 30, 1882.

Studies show that hydrokinetics has the long-term potential of providing about 10 percent of our current U.S. electricity consumption.

Religious institutional investors have historically been the leaders of shareholder activism.

"Corporations determine far more than any other institution the air we breathe, the quality of the water we drink, even where we live. Yet they are not accountable to anyone." Power and Accountability-Monks and Minow

"Boards of directors are like subatomic particles--they behave differently when they are observed." Neil Minow

2006 proxy season resulted in commitments made to As You Sow by Apple Computer to launch its Macintosh recycling program. Dell Computer then followed suit.

Many of our city water pipes and sewers were installed in the early part of the 20th century, some as far back as the Civil War.

Public health agencies issued more than 20,000 warnings against swimming at beaches on U.S. coasts in 2005. A majority of beach closings are due to sewage overflows and malfunctioning sewage plants.

The average home today contains on average 62 toxic chemicals - more than a chemistry laboratory of a hundred years ago.

American consumers drink more bottled water every year, in part because they think it is somehow safer or better than tap water. They collectively spend hundreds or thousands of dollars more per gallon for water in a plastic bottle than they would for the H20 flowing from their taps.

There is currently a shortfall of more than $22 billion per year between the funds available and what is needed to keep water safe for human and environmental health.

If all U.S. households installed water-efficient appliances, the country would save more than 3 trillion gallons of water and more than $18 billion dollars per year!

300 million gallons of water are needed to produce a single day's supply of U.S. newsprint.

A dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.

An automatic dishwasher uses 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.

A person can survive about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water.

Since 1800, 103 bird species have gone extinct.

Species on Audubon''s list of 20 Common Birds in Decline have seen their populations plummet at least 54 percent since 1967, with some down as much as 80 percent.

There are more than 77 million pet cats in the United States. A 1997 nationwide poll showed that only 35% are kept exclusively indoors, leaving the majority of owned cats free to kill birds and other wildlife at least some of the time. In addition, millions of stray and feral cats roam our cities, suburbs, farmlands and natural areas. Exact numbers are unknown, but scientists estimate that nationwide, cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, and more than a billion small mammals, such as rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks, each year. Cats kill common species such as Cardinal, Blue Jay, and House Wren, as well as rare and endangered species such as Piping Plover, Florida Scrub-Jay, and California Least Tern.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calculates that some 47.7 million Americans watch birds, up 18% from 2001. That's approximately one in five of the adult U.S. population, and more than the number of people who play golf! Birdwatching is a $31 billion-per-year industry.

For more than ten years, scientists at U.C. Davis in California have studied the impacts of conventional and organic management on tomatoes. They found that the level of quercitin, the most common flavonoid in the human diet and the major flavonoid in tomatoes, increased 79 percent as a result of organic management, and kaempferol levels rose 97 percent. Plus, the longer a field was managed organically, the bigger the margin in flavonoid levels between organic and conventional plots.

Conventionally grown cotton consumes 25% of the insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides used in the world. And conventional farming devours about 1/3 of a pound of pesticides and fertilizers to produce enough cotton for a single t-shirt.

According to Organic Farming Research Foundation, as of 2006 there are approximately 10,000 certified organic producers in the U.S. compared to 2500 to 3,000 tracked in 1994.

Of the 12 conventional fruits and vegetables with the highest traces of residual pesticides, nectarines had the highest (97.3%), followed by peaches (96.6%) and apples (93.6%). Apple Juice and canned peaches actually have less pesticide residual than their non-organic fresh counterparts.

Conventional vegetables with the least pesticides on them are onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplant. So in a pinch, these will do!

If America''s more than 300,000 houses of worship cut energy use by 10%, they would save nearly $200 million each year - money that could be used for missions and other priorities. It would also prevent the annual release of more than 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions generated by about 400,000 cars or the planting of over a half million acres of trees.

In the biblical story of creation, God grants humanity dominion over the earth. Genesis 2:15 states: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Islam''s Koran explains that Allah said that he created nature in a balance, or mizam, and that it is mankind's responsibility to maintain this fragile equilibrium. The Prophet Muhammad stated: "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself."

More than 80 % of the world's inhabitants - nearly 5 billion people - identify with a major organized religion.

The total number of species on the planet is unknown; with 15 million species being the most widely accepted figure. Only 1.8 million species are known today.

Phase Two of the 6th Extinction began about 10,000 years ago when humans turned to agriculture.

"For if one link in nature's chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish by piecemeal." Thomas Jefferson

A conservative estimate from the National Wildlife Federation indicates that about 27,000 species a year are becoming extinct.

In California alone, investments in clean technology could create up to 114,000 new jobs by 2010.

Globally, the annual revenue for solar power, wind power, biofuels, and fuel cell companies rose to $55.4 billion in 2006 - nearly 39 percent increase in one year.

"The creation of green jobs in America could be the single most important tool in helping us overcome both poverty and global warming." Selina Tarantino, Co-Director Re-Use Hawai'i

"Our youth need green-collar jobs, not jails." Van Jones. President and Founder Green for All

The City of Santa Monica saved 5% in costs and eliminated 3,200 pounds of hazardous chemicals by switching to Green cleaning products. They were also the first U.S. city to buy 100% of its municipal power from renewable sources, such as geothermal and wind.

Institutions are one of the largest consumers of computers, spending billions of dollars on electronic equipment each year. Computers and other office electronics consume 74 billion kWh of electricity per year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 7 million households.

Washington, DC estimated it could save over 11,000,000 KWh, $700,000 annually, and $1.5 million over 5 years by converting to fluorescent lighting.

Electronic waste currently comprises up to five percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream and is expected to increase by three to five percent annually-nearly three times faster than the overall municipal waste stream. 40% of lead and 70% of heavy metals found in landfills, including mercury and cadmium, originates from discarded computers and other office electronics.

A recent survey of consumers found that 74% thought greener goods were "too expensive," while 61% said they didn''t work as well. And 55% don''t believe they''re actually better for the earth.

According to a GFK Roper Poll: 49% of all American adults say they will make a green New Year''s resolution in 2008. Reducing household energy usage was cited as the most likely to be undertaken this year, cited by 75% of respondents. It was followed by recycling more (74%).

In 2003, organic fiber sales in the United States grew by 22.7 percent over 2002, to $85 million, according to the Organic Trade Association. This included a sales increase of nearly 35% for organic women's clothing, 20% for baby clothes and diapers, 11% for men's clothing, and 15% for kids'' and teens'' clothing. Organic sheets and towels grew by 18%, and organic mattresses and pillows increased by 8%.

Global warming could wipe out one-fifth of wildflower species in parts of the West as dominant grasses take over.

Washington DC''s famous cherry blossoms are peaking an average of 7 days earlier than they did 30 years ago.

Seventy percent of 23 butterfly species in California are flying 24 days earlier.

Some States may no longer have a favorable climate for their official State tree or flower.

Higher average temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns enable problematic plants, like kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle, to move into new areas.

Shell International predicts that renewable energy will supply 60% of the world energy by 2060. The World Bank estimates that the global market for solar electricity will reach $4 trillion in about 30 years

The United States domestic solar photovoltaic market grew to 140 megawatts in 2006, from 105 megawatts a year earlier. Of this amount, grid connected photovoltaics accounted for 112 Megawatts. However, US manufacturing plants accounted for just 12% of worldwide cell production in 2003. Japan has now become the largest exporter of PV cells and modules.

Around 1.2 million solar thermal systems have been installed in the United States. Over 80% of these have been to residential users.

The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year.

Yellowstone remains the last stronghold for the last of the nation's wild buffalo.Today wild buffalo are ecologically extinct throughout nearly all their native range, and cut off from all of their historic migration routes.

Humans and climate change are the Polar Bears only enemies!

In 1903 Pelican Island, Florida was designated the country''s first National Wildlife Refuge by President Theodore Roosevelt. This meant it was to be left alone to conserve the birds'' homes, and never could be razed or built upon.

Since 1600, more than a third of our country's forest land has been converted to agricultural and other uses. Of the 740 million forest acres remaining in the U.S., only 6 percent is reserved from commercial timber harvest in the form of parks, wilderness, and other land classifications.

Many millions of animals other than fish are severly injured or killed each year through deadly interactions with fishing gear. For instance, millions of dolphins have died in Tuna purse seine nets in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean.

An estimated 44,000 albatrosses are killed each year by Japanese tuna longliners.

One of the world's biggest trawl nets could encircle more than a dozen "jumbo jet" Boeing 747 aircraft at its opening. Ships deploying such nets have a capture rate of about ten tons of fish per hour. A modern 'factory' supertrawler can be longer than a football field and capable of catching and processing into various products up to 200 tons of fish daily.

A reported 110,000 boats either fish illegally or are unlicensed, and 20,000 of those boats have no name, no license, and no home port, making them almost impossible to regulate.

Worldwide, about 13 million people make all or a major part of their living from fishing. More than 10 million of them work in coastal waters on little boats powered by paddles, sails or sometimes outboard motors, with only a few crew members. Together with their immediate families they comprise some 50 million people directly dependent on fishing for their livelihoods. Another 150 million people are employed on land processing fish and servicing fleets

The first plastic sandwich bags were introduced in 1957. Department stores started using plastic bags in the late 1970s and supermarket chains introduced the bags in the early 1980s.

Overall, the U.S. plastics and related industries employed about 2.2 million U.S. workers and contributed nearly $400 million to the economy in 2002, according to The Society of the Plastics Industry.

Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. (Only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.)

Plastic production uses 8% of all the world's oil production. (waste online) At the current rate the world produces 200 million tons of plastic a year. Less than 3.5% is recycled.

Nearly 90% of floating marine litter is plastic. Since the dawn of the plastic era it is estimate that 5% of all the world's post production plastic has entered the world's oceans. That is just over 100 million tons of plastic.

Landfills are the largest source of anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions, accounting for 32% of the total US methane emissions.

The history of landfills starts in 500 BC with a law passed in Athens stating that garbage was to be put 2km beyond the city walls, stopping invaders from using the pile to climb over the city walls!

Each American produces 4-5lbs of garbage per day.

Until 1872 New York City dumped its garbage from a platform built out over the East River.

Each day coal companies detonate 2500 tons of explosives - the power of a Hiroshima bomb every week - to blow away Appalachian mountaintops to reach the coal seams beneath.

According to the EPA, 1,200 miles of American rivers and streams have already been permanently interred, leaving behind giant pits and barren moonscapes, some as large as Manhattan Island.

According to U.S. E.P.A., the waste from mountaintop removal mines has polluted the region''s groundwater and rivers and rendered 400,000 acres of some of the world''s most biologically rich temperate forests into flat, barren wastelands, ''devoid of topography and flowing water."

In the 1960s, there were 114,000 unionized mine workers in West Virginia digging coal from tunnels and supporting the families and communities of Appalachia. Today, because of the big machines used in mountain removal, there are less than 11,000 miners in West Virginia taking the same amount of coal and only a fraction of them are unionized.

"The genius of Central Park is that it is a big place that is intimate in the workings of its small pieces." William H Whyte

Atlanta has no public green space larger than one-third of a square mile.

In Los Angeles, white neighborhoods enjoy 31.8 acres of park space for every1,000 people, compared with 1.7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0.6 acres in Latino neighborhoods.

The evaporation from a single large tree can produce the cooling effect of 10 room size air conditioners operating 24 hours a day.

About 60 percent (3.6 billion) of the world population lives within 60 kilometres of the coast. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), this proportion will rise to 75 percent (6.4 billion) within three decades - nearly a billion more people than the current global population. The continental shelf is where over 80 percent of all ocean resources are concentrated. Of the world's 23 mega-cities (those with over 2.5 million inhabitants), 16 are in the coastal belt and are growing at a rate of about one million people per day.

Coral reefs are biogenic structures that are ancient even by geological standards; the oldest species of corals is over 450 million years old.

Globally, one-fifth of all animal protein consumed by humans comes from marine environments - an annual catch valued at $50 billion to $100 billion. In developing countries, coral reefs contribute about one-quarter of the total fish catch, providing food, according to one estimate, for one billion people in Asia alone. If properly managed, reefs can yield, on average, 15 tons of fish and other seafood per square kilometer per year. However, in many areas of the world, fishers are depleting this resource through overexploitation and destructive fishing practices.

Although coral reefs cover less than 1% of the Earth''s surface, they are home to 25% of all marine fish species.

Coral reefs have been used in the treatment of cancer, HIV, cardiovascular diseases and ulcers. And corals' porous limestone skeletons have been used for human bone grafts.

The United States has over 250,000 rivers. That''s 3.5 million miles of rivers. The largest river is the Mississippi, which has a flow volume of 593,000 cubic feet per second at its mouth. The longest river is the Missouri, which flows for approximately 2,500 miles.

More than 235,000 river miles in the United States have been channelized. More than 600,000 river miles are impounded behind dams. More than 25,000 river miles have been dredged for navigation.

Freshwater animals are disappearing five times faster than land animals, while of the 1200 species listed as threatened or endangered, 50% depend on rivers and streams.

More than 50% of wetlands have been lost or destroyed nationwide in the past century. Eighty-five percent of all freshwater wetland losses were wetlands less than 5.0 acres. Fifty-two percent were wetlands less than 1.0 acre.

A one-acre parking lot will cause the runoff of 16 times more rainfall than an acre of undeveloped meadow, whereas an acre of wetlands can store 1-1.5 million gallons of water

For the last 50 years Louisiana has lost 25 square miles per year, the equivalent to losing more than 21,000 football fields. From 1932 to 2000 Louisiana lost approximately 1,900 square miles of coastal land. That''s an area the size of the state of Delaware. From 2000 to 2050, scientists project that Louisiana will lose another 700 square miles of coastal wetlands, an area the size of the greater Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metro areas. The state is losing approximately 33 football-sized fields of coastal wetlands a day.

The United States is losing more than 80,000 acres of wetland habitat annually. That's more than seven football fields every hour!

If you release balloons outside they can travel hundreds of miles landing in rivers, creeks, and oceans. Whales, dolphins and turtles can be killed by ingesting balloons mistaken for jellyfish. A 60 foot sperm whale was washed up dead from ingesting a balloon which blocked its stomach and caused it to starve.

50% of dolphins die within 2 years after being taken from their families in the wild, and their estimated life span shrinks from 35 years to less than 5.

Whales are mammals with warm blood that breathe air, not water, and give birth to living young which feed on their mother's milk

The earliest picture of a dolphin (that has been preserved ) is the dolphin frieze of the Queen's Megaron in the palace of Knossos, dating from about 2000 B.C.

If you replaced your Ford Excursion with a Honda Insight, over its lifetime you'd save $11,000 on gas and produce 107 fewer tons of CO2.

Although no new nuclear plants are being ordered in the U.S., the nuclear industry continues to try and ease the licensing process for new plants. At the same time, U.S. nuclear companies, like General Electric and Westinghouse, are pushing nuclear power in developing countries, with U.S. taxpayer dollars to protect them should their nuclear ventures fail.

If you have a fireplace, close the damper when you don't have a fire burning. An open fireplace damper can let 8 percent of heat from your furnace escape through the chimney! In the summer, an open fireplace damper can let cool air escape. It's like having a window open!

Conservation means sweating with the AC unit off. Efficiency means installing a unit 30% more efficient than today's standard, and using an automatic thermostat to save energy when you are away from home. If the Bush Administration were to uphold the 30%-improvement standard issued in January 2001, we would prevent the need for 138 300-Megawatt power plants.

The average U.S. household will be paying nearly $5,000 in 2006 to power homes and vehicles - 32 percent higher than just two years ago.

U.S. retail sales of Fair Trade Certified coffee grew from less than $50 million in 2000, to nearly $500 million by 2005.

In one year, a two-cup-a-day drinker of coffee will consume the annual harvest of 18 coffee trees.

Of the 25 ''biodiversity hotspots" identified by Conservation International, 13 overlap with coffee-growing areas.

Studies in Colombia and Mexico found 94-97% fewer bird species in large-scale sun-grown coffee than in shade-grown coffee, the predominant growing method of most Fair Trade farmers. Plus almost 85% of the Fair Trade Certified coffee sold in the U.S. is certified organic.

The Southern US, which contains the most biologically diverse forests in North America, is the largest paper-producing region in the world. The paper industry currently logs 6 million acres of forests (an area larger than the size of New Jersey) each year.

U.S. Forest Service monoculture tree plantations, which feed the 156 chip mills in the South (110 of them built since 1990), now make up almost 40 percent of all pine stands in the southeastern U.S., and within 20 years, if current trends continue, tree plantations will make up 70 percent.

75% of tree plantations in the U.S. South have been established at the expense of natural forests. The conversion of forests to plantations is the leading cause of freshwater wetland loss in the region, and tree plantations host about 90 percent fewer species than the forests that preceded them.

Temperate rainforests are the most endangered forest type on the planet and British Columbia (BC), Canada, is home to a quarter of the world''s remaining ancient temperate rainforests. 90% of the logging in BC occurs in ancient forests. Over 40% of the trees cut in BC are used to produce paper.

More than 1.4 million hectares of natural forest have been replaced by tree plantations. Satellite data shows that 80 percent of the fires that burned over 2 million hectares of Indonesian forest in 1997 and 1998 were set mainly to clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations

The National Safety Council estimates that there are 300 to 500 million obsolete computers in the US, ready for disposal. Likewise, hundreds of millions of televisions that have been sold over the past 50 years have become obsolete. Discarded computers and other consumer electronics (so called e-waste) are the fastest growing portion of our waste stream - growing almost 3 times faster than our overall municipal waste stream. One hundred thirty million cell phones are retired each year.

Since waste is a sign of inefficiency, the reduction of waste usually reduces costs. For example, Hewlett Packard in Roseville, CA reduced its waste by 95% and saved $870,564 in 1998. Epson in Portland, OR has reduced its waste to zero and has saved $300,000. Interface, Inc. in Atlanta, GA has eliminated over $90M in waste. Xerox Corp., Rochester, NY has had a Waste-Free Factory environmental performance goal since the early 1990s. The criteria include reductions in solid and hazardous waste, emissions, energy consumption, and increased recycling. Savings were $45M in 1998.

In 2007, 136,000 tons of trash from Austin, Texas'' residential customers ended up dumped, smashed and covered up. To put that number into perspective, it would be like trying to bury the world's largest cruise ship.

In 1990 the Coca-Cola Company promised to begin making plastic soft drink bottles sold in the United States with 25 percent recycled plastic). Today, the company sells over 25 million plastic soda bottles in the U.S. every day - using almost no recycled plastic. In a year's time, 10 billion plastic Coke bottles that contain over 800 million pounds of virgin plastic are discarded. And 64 percent of all used soda bottles become waste or litter -- largely because Coke refuses to "close the loop" by taking them back and using them again.

In 1981, 3 years after discovering that her child was attending an elementary school built on top of a 20,000 ton, toxic-chemical dump in Niagara Falls, New York, Lois Gibbs created the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, (CHEJ) (formerly Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste), an organization that has assisted over 10,000 grassroots groups.

On average, green schools save $100,000 per year - enough to hire two new teachers, buy 200 new computers or purchase 5,000 new textbooks.

Our children miss more than 14 million school days each year due to asthma exacerbated by poor indoor air quality, which disproportionately affects low-income and minority students.

Children have more time to develop disease: their longer remaining life span provides more time for environmentally induced diseases to develop

Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2006 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 25 million cars - all while saving $14 billion on their utility bills.

Think that a shower timer can't help save the planet? Consider this: if 10,000 people reduced shower times from 7.9 minutes to 5 minutes, in a city like Seattle, residents could save more than 3.39 million kWh per year, reducing greenhouse gas emissions b

The Twin Falls school district in Idaho realized that they could reduce energy costs and cut pollution by increasing the energy efficiency of its 11 schools. The upgrades included more efficient lighting and improvements to the heating, ventilation, and a

The world's largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California.

The first plastic ''baggies" for bread, sandwiches, fruits, and vegetables were introduced in the United States in 1957. Plastic trash bags started appearing in homes and along curbsides around the world by the late 1960s.

Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. (Only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.)

The UN Environment Programme estimated that each square mile of ocean water contains 46,000 pieces of floating garbage.

The amount of bacterial pollution from one weekend boater's discharge of raw sewage is equal to the amount from the treated sewage of 10,000 people during the same time period!

The Bush administration is the only presidency in the history of the ESA to have not listed a single species as endangered, except in response to petitions and/or lawsuits by scientists and citizen groups.

There is only one wild migratory flock of whooping cranes of about 194 birds. In the 1950s, there were less than 20 birds left.

The Florida panther ranged throughout the southeastern United States. However, following years of persecution and habitat loss, there are about 80 Florida panthers occupying only 5 percent of their historic range.

Black-footed ferrets once numbered in the tens of thousands, but widespread destruction of their habitat brought them to the brink of extinction, only 18 remained in 1986. Today, they are making a comeback, with approximately 700 black-footed ferrets reintroduced to 11 locations within their former range in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Chihuahua, Mexico. A ferret may eat over 100 prairie dogs in one year!

One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. An acre of trees produced the amount of oxygen consumed by 18 people annually.

There are about 60-to 200- million spaces along our city streets where trees could be planted. This translates to the potential to absorb 33 million more tons of CO2 every year, and saving $4 billion in energy costs.

Trees can be a stimulus to economic development, attracting new business and tourism. Commercial retail areas are more attractive to shoppers, apartments rent more quickly, tenants stay longer, and space in a wooded setting is more valuable to sell or rent.

In laboratory research, visual exposure to settings with trees has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension.

One tree eliminates as much carbon dioxide from the air as is produced from driving a car 26,000 miles.

Most of the pollution that enter our waterways comes from countless small sources throughout the watershed. When it rains, stormwater picks up a variety of pollutants along the way and transports them to the nearest stream, river or lake. According to the EPA, this Non-point Source Pollution accounts for 70-80% of water pollution problems in the United States

The Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper won a billion dollar lawsuit against the City of Atlanta and set a national precedent on requirements to reduce millions of gallons of raw sewage spills during rain storms. Atlanta was also hit with a $2.5 million fine and had to pay $30 million for the removal of trash from urban streams and for the purchase of local parks.

Polluted Stormwater Runoff Is America''s number one water pollution problem. EPA reported in 2002 that 45% of our waterways are too polluted to support basic uses such as swimming and fishing. In 2004 the Congressional Research Service (Congress'' in-house scientific experts) reported that50% of water pollution problems in the U.S. are attributed to stormwater runoff - pollution from agricultural lands, forests,construction sites and urban areas that is washed from the air and land in rain or melting snow.

In 1999 the median hourly wage for U.S. farm workers was $6.05 with a median annual wage of $12,150, well below the current poverty level.

In the United States, food typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate, as much as 25 percent farther than In 1980

Most fruit and vegetable varieties sold in supermarkets are chosen for their ability to withstand industrial harvesting equipment and extended travel not taste. This results in little variety in the plants grown.

Since 1935, the U.S. has lost 4.7 million farms. Fewer than one million Americans now claim farming as a primary occupation.

Farmers in 2002 earned their lowest real net cash income since 1940. Meanwhile corporate agribusiness profits have nearly doubled (increased 98%) since 1990. Only 4 large corporations control over 80% of beef slaughter, 59% of pork packing, and 50% of broiler chicken production.

Auto dealerships use on average more energy per square foot than a typical office building. In fact, if all dealerships in the U.S. were to reduce their energy consumption by just 10 percent, they would save approximately $193 million in energy costs and eliminate more than 1 million tons of greenhouse gases every year.

Materials from recycled vehicles go back into making new cars, roads, buildings, consumer products and even garden mulch.

The Department of Energy estimates that drivers can save anywhere between 3 and 6 cents a gallon just by removing unnecessary weight from your trunk.

If your car comes equipped with cruise control, use it, especially on long trips. One study revealed that using cruise control at highway speeds offered an average fuel economy savings of 7 percent.

The Department of Energy estimates that drivers can save anywhere between 15 and 98 cents a gallon by driving the speed limit and driving sensibly, avoiding rapid starts and stops.

The term climate change is often used interchangeably with the term global warming, 'Climate change' is growing in preferred use because it helps convey that there are other changes in addition to rising temperatures.

Reduce your driving: one gallon of gas burned creates 20 pounds of CO2.

"We can either have fossil fuels, or polar bears. We cannot have both." Guy Dauncey

''I''d put my money on the sun and solar energy. ...hope we don''t have to wait ''til oil and coal run out before we tackle that." - Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

Re?ned products such as motor oil and gasoline which get into streams from stormwater runoff or boats are more toxic than crude oils because they are soluble in water, disperse more quickly, and are more easily absorbed by an animal''s soft tissue. A single quart of motor oil can create a two-acre oil slick - the size of three football ?elds - and contaminate up to 2 million gallons of water! Each year, Americans spill, throw away, or dump out more than 30 times the oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound.

Temperature can be a good indicator to the health of a stream. Streams with healthy plant communities, including trees, along their banks will tend to have lower temperatures than streams that are open to sunlight. In general, streams maintained by ground-water discharge will have lower temperatures than those maintained primarily by surface runoff. Typically, the cooler the stream the more likely it is to support a sport fishery. Most species of game fishes prefer cooler waters, although there are exceptions to this.

Impervious surfaces, such as roads, driveways and roofs, shed water instead of allowing water to absorb into the ground (infiltration). Instead, water is forced to stay on the surface becoming runoff. The runoff flows down hill to the nearest stream or creek, often carrying sediment or pollution along with it. The path rain takes as it's traveling to the creeks and rivers greatly impacts the health of those creeks. Impervious surfaces can cause many problems such as flooding, increased stream temperatures and changes to the physical and biological health of the stream. Findings reveal that stream degradation consistently occurs when impervious surface levels in a watershed reach between 10-20%.

According to recent studies, the most effective way to convince a voter to support your candidate is face-to-face contact. On average, at least 6.5% of the people you talk to (1 out of 15) will come around. That can be enough to swing an election.

Trickle-up theory: Studies show that if an 18-year-old votes, his or her parents are also likely to.

''Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." -George Jean Nathan

77% of Americans say that ''the country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment." Only 18% disagree. (Pew Research)

In 2004, nearly 1 out of every 11 voters skipped over their House race on the ballot.

Coal-burning power plants are the largest human-caused source of mercury emissions into the air in the United States

Poor air quality is responsible in the U.S. for an estimated 50,000 premature deaths each year.

Major loopholes in federal law allow the $35 billion cosmetics industry to put unlimited amounts of chemicals into personal care products

Women inadvertently eat about 4lb of lipstick in a lifetime

Most of the policies that impact the solar industry in the United States are created at the State level. This is in contrast to the other major solar markets of Japan and Germany, and the steadily increasing European country markets.

The most important State market is California. Over 80% of grid connected installations in 2003 took place in California. New Jersey is emerging as the next solar friendly State with an aggressive pathway toward renewable and solar energy.

Two billion people in the world have no access to electricity. For most of them, solar photovoltaics would be their cheapest electricity source, but they cannot afford it.

Photovoltaic (fo-to-vol-ta-ik) systems are solar systems that produce electricity directly from sunlight. The term "photo" comes from the Greek "phos," meaning light. "Voltaic" is named for Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), a pioneer in the study of electricity for whom the term "volt" was named. Photovoltaics, then, means "light electricity." Photovoltaic systems produce clean, reliable electricity without consuming any fossil fuels.

In 1943, DDT production was approaching its wartime maximum of three million pounds a month!

The concept of pesticides is not new by 900 C.E. the Chinese were using arsenic to control garden pests.

In 1945 DDT was sprayed over a gypsymoth-infested oak forest in Pennsylvania. Every gypsymoth caterpillar in the forest died within hours. But so did every bird-at least 4,000 of them within eight days.

In1962 Rachael Carson's book Silent Spring exposes the hazards of pesticides and motivated research into Integrated Pest Management

Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, twice the rate of population growth.

The US has the resources to sustain less than half of its current population of 300 million. If all 6 billion people were to share the world's resources equally, Americans would have to reduce consumption by 80%.

In 8000 B.C., only 5 million people were alive-roughly the population of today''s Papua New Guinea.

In 1960 Europe had twice as many people as Africa by 2050 experts estimate there will be three times as many Africans as Europeans.