7gen Bloc

Last week's Seventh Generation Index proved so popular that we've decided to go back to the books and do it again. So it is that we present this new snapshot of our world, a look at some deceptively pithy facts and figures that speak volumes about the state of our planet today and where we need to take it tomorrow.

• Average number of pounds of paper used annually by every American: 680
• Number of trees required by every American to meet their yearly demand for paper and wood products: 7
• Percent of the U.S. waste stream composed of paper (by weight): 35
• Gallons of petroleum saved by recycling one ton of paper: 380
• Number of trees saved by recycling one ton of household printing paper: 24
• Number of annual pounds of carbon dioxide absorbed by those 24 trees: 353
• Cost equivalent of flood protection provided by U.S. coastal wetlands: $23 billion
• Medium estimate of the annual value of all the goods and services provided by nature: $33 trillion
• Annual output of the total world economy: $44 trillion
• Percent increase in U.S. socially responsible investment funds from 1995-2005: 300
• Value of all socially responsible investments in the U.S.: $2.29 trillion
• Reduction in the estimated value of a single human life by the current EPA administration: $820,000
• Percent increase in the incidence of cancer, adjusted for median age, from 1972 to 1999: 24
• Percentage of American women who will face cancer at some point in their lifetime: 39
• Percentage of American men who will face cancer at some point in their lifetime: 44
• Estimated number of synthetic chemicals currently in production: 80,000
• Approximate number of approval applications for new chemicals received by the EPA each year: 2,000
• Percent of all chemicals for which human and environmental safety tests have yet to be performed: 90
• Amount of equivalent human energy contained in 10-1/2 gallons of petroleum: 4 years of hard labor
• Approximate total amount of wind energy released by a typical hurricane: 1.5 x 10^12 watts
• Approximate total amount of current global electrical generating capacity: 3 x 10^12 watts
• Estimated amount of global ocean wave energy recoverable using current technologies: 7.5 x 10^14 watts
• Percent of total world energy output consumed in the United States: 26
• Percent U.S. energy demand grows each year: 3
• Approximate percent of additional energy needed to wash clothes in 140° water vs. 104° water: 100
• Percent increase in U.S. water use per person since 1950: 127
• Number of gallons of water wasted by a leaky faucet dripping once per second: 2,700

photo: Felix Francis

Sources:

1. Recycling Revolution, Paper Recycling Facts, http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
2. Recycling Revolution, Paper Recycling Facts, http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
3. Energy Information Administration, Energy Kids Page, http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/recycling/solidwaste/pape...
4. Recycling Revolution, Paper Recycling Facts, http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
5. Conservatree, Trees Into Paper, http://www.conservatree.com/learn/EnviroIssues/TreeStats.shtml
6. Calculations based on data from North Carolina State university Cooperative Extension, “What’s the Use?” http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/forest/plt/pdf/branching_out/branch4.pdf
7. New Orleans Times Picayune, “Wetlands Save States Billions, New Study Says,” July 2008, http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-11/121679108...
8. World Resources Institute, Valuing Ecosystem Services, 1998, http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?fid=15&theme=5
9. International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, 2004
10. Worldwatch Institute, “Socially Responsible Investment Grows Rapidly,” 2008, http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5481
11. Worldwatch Institute, “Socially Responsible Investment Grows Rapidly,” 2008, http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5481
12. The Washington Post, “Cosmic Markdown: EPA Says Life Is Worth Less,” July 19, 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/18/AR200807...
13. How to Win the Losing War on Cancer, Cancer Prevention Coalition, February 2003
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. “Uncertainty Persists on Chemical Equations,” Environmental Finance, September 2004
17. “Home is Where the Hazard Is,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 2004
18. “Uncertainty Persists on Chemical Equations,” Environmental Finance, September 2004
19. Rob Hopkins, The Transition Handbook, Chelsea Green, http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/index.php?p=1163
20. Atlantic Oceanographic and Meterological Laboratory, Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D7.html
21. Ibid.
22. Technology White Paper on Wave Energy Potential on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, May 2006
23. Energy: Use Less—Save More by Jon Clift and Amanda Cuthbert, Chelsea Green Publishing, September 2007
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Water: Use Less—Save More by Jon Clift and Amanda Cuthbert, Chelsea Green Publishing, September 2007
27. Ibid