Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

“The Story of Stuff” A must see!

Patricia March 7th, 2008

This educational presentation is so excellently done. We have all become so incredibly programmed to consume. Here is the beautifully- executed graphic story of our post-World War II human culture. Simple, easy to comprehend, inspiration to change our ways and what is at stake if we don’t. Watch this video NOW!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

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Best Environmental Newletter-The Earth Policy Institute

Patricia February 22nd, 2008

           

photograph by Stu Worrall

© All rights reserved.

DO YOU KNOW?


This is one of the best newsletters on the environment, global economics and change!
Check out these statistics and sign up to stay informed.
 Need data? Sometimes numbers can tell a story. Here are some of the
 figures from the behind-the-scenes research for the latest book from Earth
 Policy Institute, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, by
 Lester R. Brown. Complete data sets and charts are now available on-line at
 www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/data.htm.

Did you know?:

The eight warmest years on record have all occurred in the last decade.

For seven of the last eight years, the world has consumed more grain
 than it produced; grain stocks are now at a historic low.

One fifth of the U.S. grain harvest is now being turned into fuel
 ethanol.

One third of reptile, amphibian, and fish species examined by the World
 Conservation Union are considered to be threatened with extinction.

Grain yields increased half as fast in the 1990s as they did in the
 1960s.

Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa today is lower than it was in the
 late 1980s.

Today’s economically recoverable reserves of lead, tin, and copper
 could be depleted within the next 25 years if their extraction expands at
 current rates.

Nearly half of the annual global military budget of $1.2 trillion is
 spent by one country — the United States.

But not all the news is bad:

South Korea leads the world in paper recycling, recovering an estimated
 77 percent of its paper products.

Conservation agriculture is practiced on more than 100 million hectares
 around the world

Four years after London introduced a fee on motor vehicles entering the
 city center, average car traffic had fallen by 36 percent while
 bicycle trips had increased by 49 percent.

The world produces 110 million bicycles a year, more than twice the
 annual production of 49 million cars.

Fish farming, largely of herbivorous species, is the fastest growing
 source of animal protein worldwide, increasing by an average of 7 percent
 each year since 1995.

World soybean production has quadrupled since 1977. 

Coal use in Germany has dropped 37 percent since 1990; in the United
 Kingdom it has fallen by 43 percent.

Solar cell production is doubling every two years, making it the
 world’s fastest growing energy source.

Electricity used for lighting around the world can be cut by 65 percent
 through efficiency improvements like switching from incandescent bulbs
 to compact fluorescents.

** Find out more in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization,
 on-line at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm, and explore the complete
 datasets at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/data.htm.

For information contact:
Earth Policy Institute
1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 403
Washington, DC  20036
Web: www.earthpolicy.org

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