Live Lightly on the Earth – Statistics that Teach

Numbers can help one gain perspective of the reality of our social and environmental health:

• The average size of a US house has doubled since 1949 to 2250 square feet. (Listen to a related NPR story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283) or Read the Los Angeles Times article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/national/la-na-mcmansions23jul23,1,5997419.story?ctrack=3&cset=true
• In the next 50 years more buildings will be built than in human history to date.
• Since Lewis and Clark first reached the Pacific shore Americans have consumed nearly 80% of our old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. If this had not been stopped they would have vanished in 2006. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00384.x
• The average US home has 13,000 board feet of lumber (one square foot of wood one inch thick). This equals one football field of clearcut for each house. http://www.esf.edu/PUBPROG/house/default.htm
• The most effective strategy is for Americans to live in smaller, more space and energy efficient dwellings and businesses. http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/smallhousesociety/resources.htm
• 10-30% of our community landfills are construction debris and discarded buildings. http://peakstoprairies.org/p2bande/Construction/C&DWaste/whatsC&D.cfm http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/debris-new/basic.htm http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/sqg/c&d-rpt.pdf
• 30% of the money the average American spends on heating and cooling their home is lost through leaky ducts, windows, walls, ceilings, etc – $140 per home in 2006. Each year leaky windows alone cost an estimated $26 billion dollars currently. http://www.epa.gov/naturalevents/fightfrost.html http://www.hubbertpeak.com/pimentel/bioscience/conservation/conservation.pdf
• The average American consumes 46,414 pounds of materials in a year. This includes coal (7,400 lbs), oil (6,420 lbs – the weight of 1,069 gallons of gasoline), natural gas (3,240 lbs – the weight of 72,000 cu. ft.), cement (902 lbs), iron ore (440 lbs), and clays (290 lbs). This is about 7 times the weight of the food eaten (2200 lbs). http://www.energybulletin.net/14143.html
• In the United States, approximately 4 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent (almost 9,000 pounds) per person per year (about 17% of total U.S. emissions) are emitted from people’s homes – how long it stays in the atmosphere is debatable – from a dozen years or so to several thousand. http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_home.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gases
• According to GCL: Global Cement and Lime Magazine concrete production is responsible for 8% of the human contribution to greenhouse gas emissions as each pound of concrete produced adds one pound of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. www.propubs.com/climate/climate.html
• The National Academy of Sciences reports that 15% of the US population have some degree of environmental illness from cumulative exposure to carcinogens and toxins (many present in building materials and carpets).
• The California Children’s Environmental Health Protection Act notes the health risks of formaldehyde – a solvent present in clothing, upholstery, drapery, paints, carpets, cabinets, adhesives and cleaning products. (http://www.oehha.ca.gov/air/toxic_contaminants/pdf_zip/formaldehyde_final.pdf)
• According to the Environmental Protection Agency the average American spends 80% of their lives indoors and 30% of our lives in bedrooms.
• The EPA also reports that 90% of all regulated toxins are more prevalent indoors than out.
• The World Health Organization reports that 30% of all US homes contain toxic levels sufficient to create environmental illness. (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/sbs.html)
• The Natural Resources Defense Council has reported that in the last 50 years 70,000 chemicals have been created that have never before been seen by the human body.
• Only 1,000 of those chemicals have been tested for effects on our nervous system.
• Only 100 of those are regulated in their use.
• 250,000 violations of those regulations are recorded every 2 years.