Why Go Green?

The Great Pacific Garbage Dump (Just a little reminder of how not recycling has cost us)

Going green and sustainability are two terms we've all been hearing about lately. Heck, even Disney has got it covered by starting "Project Green" where you pledge to start going green at home . The question is, what's all this noise about recycling and living a "greener" lifestyle? There are many ways to make sense of it. Some reasons fit some people better than others. For example, those who like to live efficiently enjoy going green because it allows them to be more efficient with their resources, and can even save them money. Which leads me on to my next point, some people just like it because they can save money. Others just want to leave behind a healthy planet for their children and generations to come.

But, how much of an impact can one person really have?

Let's play a little game called by the numbers*:


36: the number of U.S. states that are anticipating local, regional or statewide water shortages by 2013.

• 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
  

2000 pounds: oil saved for every 1 ton of plastic that is recycled. We also save the equivalent of 2 people’s energy use for 1 year and the amount of water used by 1 person in 2 month’s time

• Odd as it seems there are many people who do not realize that plastic bottles our water comes in is made out of oil. This is the same oil that is used to make gasoline. It's the same oil that is in such high demand and is not an unlimited resource. (http://www.environment-green.com/)
  

700: the number of years it takes a simple plastic bottle to begin to decompose in a landfill. (thinkgreen.com)

60 percent: the reduction in developmental problems in children in China who were born after a coal-burning power plant closed in 2006.

95 percent: the amount of energy saved by recycling an aluminum can versus creating the can from virgin aluminum.

• That means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material. Energy savings in one year alone are enough to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years.

1.5 acres: the amount of rainforest lost every second to land development and deforestation, with tremendous losses to habitat and biodiversity.

• Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.

50: million tons of paper are recycled annually, but this is only about half of what is produced. If there was no paper recycling, we would lose 850 million more trees a year.

100 percent: amount of glass that is recyclable


*this information is taken (sometimes verbatim) from various sites either referred to in parentheses after the statement, or located in the Green links on the toolbar.

Just ONE person can help an entire state save on water, keep a plastic bottle from sitting in the landfill (or in the water) for 700 years, and help stop the cutting down of trees in the rainforest so that we can try to develop new medicines.

Now imagine if two people got the same idea, and then three, then four. Imagine the reverse effect of the Great Pacific Garbage Dump. There's a lot of good you can do.