By the Numbers… Environment

Written by: Jeff

500 – billion plastic bags are used annually
18,306 – the number of plastic shopping bags that each of us use in a lifetime
25 – the number of minutes that we use each bag for on average
3 – percent of the plastic bags that are recycled
1000 – amount of years it takes for them to bio-degrade.
(ABC 20/20)

What you can do: Use a cloth bag at the grocery store.

15,334 – Number of bottles of water the average American consumes in a lifetime
26,408 – the number of aluminum cans we each use in a lifetime (most of them are not recycled)
900 – amount of wire hangers we each use in a lifetime
2025 – number of rolls of paper towels we use in a lifetime.
3000 – amount of paper cups used by each household in one year (on average)
411 – the amount of trees chopped down attributed to each person in a lifetime.
(ABC GMA)
MORE…
What you can do: Recycle, recycle, recycle!

1 – the amount of light bulbs that each household would need to replace with an energy saver bulb to equal the amount of pollution that 2 million cars emit each year.
15 – the amount of dollars that we (Jess and I) saved last month by switching our bulbs to energy savers in a small apartment!

What you can do: Change all your bulbs to energy savers (to make up for your neighbors that do not and to save money on electric bill)

75 – percent of our monthly energy usage is drawn when we think that our appliances are off.

What you can do: unplug appliances and chargers – saves close to your own body weight in carbon every year and saves on your electric bill as well!

2 – the number of degrees that you could turn down your thermostat in order to keep 1,000 pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere each year and save a lot of money as well!
2 out of 5 – animal species on this planet face imminent extinction.
2.7 – 270 – the amount of animals that go extinct each day world-wide
93 – the amount of years at our current rates of pollution that it would take to make fifty percent of plants and vegetation go extinct.
(Mother Jones)

What you can do: Turn your thermostat down 5 – 10 degrees if you are going to be out of the house for more than 8 hours. Do not turn it down more than that as your furnace will spend more energy making up for the cold air and walls than was saved. Only put your thermostat down more than this if you are going to be gone for a few days.

Double – the amount of water the average American uses compared to Germans
#1 – the ranking of Americans as the worst wasters of water in the world
2 –minutes less in the shower each day for each American would equal two months of water supply in LA, Chicago, and Philly.
(ABC GMA)

What you can do: Try to shave a few minutes off your showers, use luke warm water instead of hot. Also: consider the saying “if it is yellow, let it mellow, if it is brown, flush it down.” And if you are really dedicated: put a bucket in the shower, then put it in your toilet to save flushing.

Finally… Consider:

60 – the number of tons of garbage that we each produce in a lifetime.

Imagine this number times the population of the United States… I think it is time for all of us to take care of God’s gift, especially us as Christians…