Factoids

Below are some factoids that will correspond with the pages of the Earth Day Carol story. In the interactive app when you touch the screen these factoids pop-up.

Page 2. Discarded bottles

People create about 2.6 trillion pounds of garbage each year. That’s heavier than 225 million adult elephants.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/26-trillion-pounds-of-garbage-where-does-the-worlds-trash-go/258234/ Derek Thompson. June, 2012. 2.6 Trillion Pounds of Garbage: Where Does the World’s Trash Go?

The independent chemist and inventor Leo Baekeland created the first all-synthetic polymer in 1907. He was also the first to call this new substance “plastic.”

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/05/express/a-brief-history-of-plastic Heather Rogers. The Brooklyn Rail. A Brief History of Plastic

Five plastic soda bottles yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt, one square foot of carpet or enough fiber fill for one ski jacket.

http://www.environmentalistseveryday.org/solid-waste-management/garbage-trash-waste-facts.php Environmentalists. Every Day. Know Your Trash Facts.

In the United States, we throw away 250 million tons of garbage every year. That’s enough garbage to cover the state of Texas entirely with trash—twice.

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Municipal Solid Waste. (Note: Figures for 2010)

Page 3. Styrofoam

Styrofoam does not dissolve and has the chance of remaining for more than 400 years before any changes in its physical makeup occur.

http://www.thepenn.org/2.3671/the-never-decomposing-story-1.428461 Anthony Mirisciotta. The Penn. Published: Monday, February 27, 2006. Updated: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 01:09. The never-decomposing story

It is estimated that Styrofoam waste takes up 25 percent to 30 percent of all landfill space.

According to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, only between 25 and 55 percent of all waste generated in large cities is collected by municipal authorities.

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/key-facts.html The Global Development Research Center. Key Facts on Waste Issues

Page 4. Landfills

Only two human-made structures on Earth are large enough to be seen from outer space: the Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills Landfill, located on the western shore of Staten Island!

http://justlivegreener.com/environment/253-scary-facts-about-landfills.html JustLiveGreener.Com. May, 2010. Scary Facts About Landfills

Because plastic water bottles are shielded from sunlight in landfills, they will not decompose for thousands of years.

http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html Clean Air Council. Waste and Recycling Facts

A variety of manufacturing plants, schools, government buildings and other facilities are currently using landfill gas for heating and cooling.

http://www.environmentalistseveryday.org/solid-waste-management/garbage-trash-waste-facts.php Environmentalists. Every Day. Know Your Trash Facts.

The first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) disposable soda bottle was introduced in 1975.

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/05/express/a-brief-history-of-plastic Heather Rogers. The Brooklyn Rail. A Brief History of Plastic

Every hour, Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles, 90% of which will finish their short lives in a landfill.

http://justlivegreener.com/environment/253-scary-facts-about-landfills.html JustLiveGreener.Com. May, 2010. Scary Facts About Landfills

Page 5. Plastic

100 million barrels of oil. That’s the amount of oil that is used to produce the plastic for bottled water globally every year.

http://www.sodastream.com/saving-bottles-counter Emily Arnold & Janet Larsen. “Bottled water: Pouring resources down the drain.” Earth Policy Institute, Feb. 2, 2006

According to a study prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency, producing an item with PET—one of the least poisonous plastics—generates one hundred times more toxic emissions than manufacturing the same item with glass.

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/05/express/a-brief-history-of-plastic Heather Rogers. The Brooklyn Rail. A Brief History of Plastic

Plastic only became widely used around the 1920s in industrialized countries around the globe. http://science.yourdictionary.com/articles/who-invented-plastic-and-when.html Your Dictionary, Science. Who Invented Plastic and When?

John Wesley Hyatt concocted Celluloid, the first successful plastic, in 1869.

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/05/express/a-brief-history-of-plastic Heather Rogers. The Brooklyn Rail. A Brief History of Plastic

Page 6. Making Plastic

The vast majority of plastic bottles are manufactured from petroleum, some of which comes from deposits as much as three billion years old.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-life-cycle-of-a-plastic-bottle.htm wiseGeek. What is the Life Cycle of a Plastic Bottle?

Plastic is produced from nonrenewable fossil fuels, typically natural gas and petroleum.

http://blog.wellsfargo.com/environment/2012/01/plastics_a_great_or_grim_future_1.html Krista Van Tassel. Wells Fargo Environmental Forum. Jan, 2012. Plastics: A great or grim future?

At least 90 percent of the price of a bottle of water is for things other than the water itself, like bottling, packaging, shipping and marketing.

http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html Clean Air Council. Waste and Recycling Facts

Each bottle produced requires nearly 5 times its volume in water to manufacture and may have caused the release of nickel, ethylene oxide and benzene during its production.

http://www.sodastream.com/saving-bottles-counter Emily Arnold & Janet Larsen. “Bottled water: Pouring resources down the drain.” Earth Policy Institute, Feb. 2, 2006

Before becoming plastic products that we can use, the petroleum is made into tiny raw plastic pellets, called “nurdles.”

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2007/07/plastic-is-made-from-oil-you-knew-that/ My Plastic Free Life. July, 2007. Plastic is made from oil. You knew that, right?

Page 8. What it means to reduce

Reducing is the first and most effective of the three Rs. It means reducing your consumption or buying less.

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/reduce-reuse-recycle-mean-2529.html John Brennan. National Geographic. What Does Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Mean?

Each reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminate thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/ecocenter/How_to_Tuesday_Cut_Your_Use_of_Plastic_Plastic_Plastic.html Carey Okrand. Smithonian.com. April, 2008. Cut Your Use of Plastic, Plastic, Plastic

Choose products that contain less packaging. Purchase products in larger containers—get a huge jug of laundry detergent rather than three smaller ones.

There are many ways to reduce your consumption of plastic when you store leftovers or pack lunches/food to go. Ditch plastic baggies or foil for containers. Pack them in your reusable lunch sack too.

Ways to reduce: Let’s all remember the problem that is the disposable plastic water bottle. Many alternatives to plastic water bottles are available.

Page 9. Plastic bags

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute.

Plastic bags do not biodegrade. Light breaks them down into smaller and smaller particles that contaminate the soil and water and are expensive and difficult to remove. http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html Clean Air Council. Waste and Recycling Facts

Less than 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled each year. Recycling one ton of plastic bags costs $4,000 US dollars. The recycled product can be sold for $32 US dollars. http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html Clean Air Council. Waste and Recycling Facts

Every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste.

http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html Clean Air Council. (2009, May). Why Plastic Bag Fees Work.

Page 10. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The middle of the Pacific Ocean is now six times more abundant with plastic waste than zooplankton.

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/05/express/a-brief-history-of-plastic Heather Rogers. The Brooklyn Rail. A Brief History of Plastic

The world produces 300 billion pounds of plastic each year, about 10% ends up in the ocean, 70% of which eventually sinks. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/ Greenpeace International. The Trash Vortex of the North Pacific is an area the size of Texas.

Plastic constitutes 90 percent of all trash floating in the world’s oceans. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-ocean2aug02,0,4917201.story Kenneth R. Weiss. Los Angeles Times. August, 2006. Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas.

Every year some 45,000 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world’s oceans.

http://www.green-networld.com/facts/waste.htm Our Waste

Page 11. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and sea life

It has been estimated that over a million sea-birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals and sea turtles are killed each year by ingestion of plastics or entanglement.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/ Greenpeace International. The Trash Vortex of the North Pacific is an area the size of Texas.

80 percent of ocean trash originates on land.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-ocean2aug02,0,4917201.story Kenneth R. Weiss. Los Angeles Times. August, 2006. Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas.

When the small particles from photodegraded plastic bags get into the water, they are ingested by filter feeding marine animals. Biotoxins like PCBs that are in the particles are then passed up the food chain, including up to humans.

http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.htmlClean Air Council. Waste and Recycling Facts

Page 12. Reuse

Reusing–Rather than throwing out items like clothing or food jars, consumers can find new uses for them — and thereby reduce their consumption of new resources.

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/reduce-reuse-recycle-mean-2529.html John Brennan. National Geographic. What Does Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Mean?

Ways to reuse everyday items: Milk jugs – Clothespin holder after you cut the top off and hang from your clothesline.

http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/06/17/25-ways-to-reuse-everyday-items-instead-of-throwing-them-away/ The Good Human. June, 2008. 25 Ways To Reuse Everyday Items Instead Of Throwing Them Away.

Ways to reuse everyday items: Shredded paper – Makes great packing material for shipping gifts; also makes good packing material for when you are moving.

http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/06/17/25-ways-to-reuse-everyday-items-instead-of-throwing-them-away/ The Good Human. June, 2008. 25 Ways To Reuse Everyday Items Instead Of Throwing Them Away.

Ways to reuse everyday items: Bath mat – folded just right, can be used as a new floor mop!

http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/06/17/25-ways-to-reuse-everyday-items-instead-of-throwing-them-away/ The Good Human. June, 2008. 25 Ways To Reuse Everyday Items Instead Of Throwing Them Away.

Page 13. Garbage bags

Single-use and disposable plastics are the main sources of plastic pollution.

http://blog.wellsfargo.com/environment/2012/01/plastics_a_great_or_grim_future_1.html

An average kitchen-size bag of trash contains enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for more than 24 hours. http://www.environmentalistseveryday.org/solid-waste-management/garbage-trash-waste-facts.php Environmentalists. Every Day. Know Your Trash Facts.

Garbage bags: In 1950 Mr. Harry Wasylyk invented the familiar green plastic bag. This plastic bag was made of polyethylene.

http://www.budgetpackaging.com/inofgaba.html

Page 14. Recycled bottles

340 billion beverage bottles and cans are not recycled every year worldwide. That’s a recycling rate of about 26 percent.

http://www.sodastream.com/saving-bottles-counter – 1. Euromonitor 2009 – Beverage Packaging

It has been estimated that recycling, re-use, and composting create six to ten times as many jobs as waste incineration and landfills. http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.htmlClean Air Council. Waste and Recycling Facts

After bottles are collected, they are taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF) where they are condensed into large bales for shipping.

http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/how-plastic-bottles-are-recycled/

How bottles are recycled

How Plastic Bottles are Recycled

Plastic bottles go through a series of steps to become new plastic products.

1. Baling

Collected bottles are condensed for shipping.

After bottles are collected, they are taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF) where they are condensed into large bales for shipping. Each bale weighs 800 to 1,200 pounds and can contain anywhere from 6,400 to 9,600 beverage, food and/or non-food bottles.

2. Sorting

Reclaimers rip apart the bales, then sort and shred the bottles.

Bales are shipped to a plastics reclaimer where a machine called a bale breaker rips apart the bales. The bottles and containers are then optically sorted by resin and sometimes color. The pieces then go through a machine where they are shredded into tiny flakes.

3. Melting

The flakes are then washed, dried and melted.

The flakes are washed to remove any impurities, like pieces of labels or leftover contents. They are then dried and melted.

4. Flaking

The melted plastic is formed into flakes.

The melted plastic is processed into flakes, which are sold to end markets, and can be made into a wide variety of plastic products.

5. Next applications

Flakes are spun into fine, thread-like material to make textiles.

In many PET and HPDE applications the flakes are often spun into a very fine, thread-like material through a process similar to making cotton candy. This can be used to make carpets, clothing or filling for jackets and quilts because the thin plastic has good insulation properties.

http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/how-plastic-bottles-are-recycled/

Page 15. Recycled plastic

Recycled plastic bottles make hundreds of everyday products, including fleece jackets, carpeting and lumber for outdoor decking.

http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/benefits-of-recycling-plastic-bottles/

In 2009, the plastic bottle recycling rate reached 28 percent, ranking it among the highest recycled plastics.

http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/benefits-of-recycling-plastic-bottles/

On July 27, 2010, the first ship made from recycled plastic bottles called the Plastiki was constructed, and David de Rothschild led his crew in a 12,000-nautical-mile sea mission.

http://1800recycling.com/2011/03/history-plastic-bottles-recycle/ Elizah Leigh. 1800 Recycling.com. Mixed Greens. The History of Plastic Bottles. March 18, 2011

Page 16. Recycling facts

Recycling is the third of the three Rs. Recycling extracts valuable materials from items that might otherwise be considered trash and turns them into new products.

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/reduce-reuse-recycle-mean-2529.html John Brennan. National Geographic. What Does Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Mean?

Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.

http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/benefits-of-recycling-plastic-bottles/

Recycling one aluminum can saves the energy equivalent of one cup of gasoline.

http://www.nemcog.org/downloads/recycling_fact_sheet.pdf

recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run your television for three hours,

from http://earth911.com/news/2012/10/17/how-much-energy-water-saved-by-recycling/

Every ton of mixed paper recycled can save the energy equivalent of 165 gallons of gasoline.

Recycling steel saves 75 percent of the energy that would be used to create steel from raw materials, enough to power 18 million homes.

http://www.environmentalistseveryday.org/solid-waste-management/garbage-trash-waste-facts.php Environmentalists. Every Day. Know Your Trash Facts.

Producing new plastic products from recycled materials uses two-thirds less energy than making products from raw (virgin) materials, so recycling plastics frees up that energy consumption for other products and uses.

In 2007, the U.S. recycled over 4 billion pounds of plastic, which saved enough energy to heat over 2.1 million homes.

Page 17.Earth Day

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 with an estimated 20 million people participating.

Earth Day was started by Senator Gaylord Nelson. http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/earth-day-history-facts-and-quiz-kids-earth-day-2012-2918522.html. Now Public, Crowd Powered Media. Earth Day History, Facts and Quiz for Kids on Earth Day 2012

The first Earth Day was held in 1970 and also gave birth to Earth Week (April 16 to April 22). As Senator Nelson says ‘Earth Day organized itself.’ http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/earth-day-history-facts-and-quiz-kids-earth-day-2012-2918522.html. Now Public, Crowd Powered Media. Earth Day History, Facts and Quiz for Kids on Earth Day 2012

From not-so-humble beginnings in 1970, when 20 million participated across the U.S., Earth Day has grown into a global tradition, with a billion expected to take part in 2009. Find out when it is, how it started, how it’s evolved, and what you can do.

When Is Earth Day?

Every day, the saying goes, is Earth Day. But it’s popularly celebrated on April 22. Why?

One persistent rumor holds that April 22 was chosen because it’s the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.

“Lenin’s goal was to destroy private property and this goal is obviously shared by environmentalists,” the Capitalism Magazine website noted in a 2004 article perpetuating the theory.

Kathleen Rogers, president of Washington, D.C.-based Earth Day Network, said in 2010 that the rumored communist connection is untrue.

Instead, April 22, 1970, was chosen for the first Earth Day in part because it fell on a Wednesday, the best part of the week to encourage a large turnout for the environmental rallies held across the country, Rogers said.

“It worked out perfectly, because everybody was at work and they all left,” she said.

In fact, more than 20 million people across the U.S. are estimated to have participated in that first Earth Day.

(See pictures: “The First Earth Day—Bell-Bottoms and Gas Masks.“)

Earth Day is now celebrated every year by more than a billion people in 180 nations around the world.

Mad People and a Frustrated Politician

Earth Day’s history is rooted in 1960s activism. The environment was in visible ruins and people were mad, according to Rogers.

“It wasn’t uncommon in some cities during rush hour to be standing on a street corner and not be able to see across the street” because of pollution, she said.

Despite the anger, green issues were absent from the U.S. political agenda, which frustrated U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, whose campaigns for the environment through much of the 1960s had fallen flat.

First Earth Day “Took off Like Gangbusters”

In 1969 Nelson hit on the idea of an environmental protest modeled after anti-Vietnam War demonstrations called teach-ins.

“It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country,” Nelson recounted in an essay shortly before he died in July 2005 at 89.

“The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air—and they did so with spectacular exuberance.”

Nelson recruited activist Denis Hayes to organize the April 22, 1970, teach-in, which today is sometimes credited for launching the modern environmental movement.

By the end of 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been born, and efforts to improve air and water quality were gaining political traction.

“It was truly amazing what happened,” Rogers said. “Blocks just tumbled.”

Earth Day Evolves

Since Earth Day started, environmentalism has moved from a fringe issue to a mainstream concern, Amy Cassara told National Geographic News in 2010, when she was a senior associate at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C.

“As many as 80 percent of Americans describe themselves as environmentalists,” Cassara said.

Environmental issues today, however, are less immediate than dirty air, toxic water, and a hole in the ozone layer, she added.

For example, the impacts of global climate change are largely abstract and difficult to explain “without coming off as a doomsday prognosticator,” Cassara said.

“As we become more industrialized and our supply chains become less transparent, it can be more difficult to understand the environmental consequences of our actions,” she noted.

Earth Day Network—which was founded by the original organizers of Earth Day—is pushing the Earth Day movement from single-day actions, such as park cleanups and tree-planting parties, to long-term commitments.

“Planting a tree, morally and poetically, requires taking care of it for a really long time, not just sticking it in the ground,” Earth Day Network’s Rogers said.

To help make the transition, the organization is aligned with a hundred thousand schools around the world, integrating projects with an environmental component into the year-round curriculum.

“They announce the results on Earth Day, so Earth Day becomes a moment in time,” Rogers said.

Cassara, of the World Resources Institute, said her organization uses Earth Day to convene with leaders in the movement and assess progress in their campaigns.

“[Earth Day] doesn’t raise awareness among the general public in the same way that it used to. But it still provides a benchmark for reflection among those of us in the environmental community,” she said.

What to Do on Earth Day?

For those whose inner environmentalist speaks loudest on April 22, Earth Day Network’s Rogers encourages them to make a public commitment to take an environmental action.

“We are headed for a billion commitments to do something green,” Rogers said. “And that doesn’t mean think about it—it means do something.”

Commitment ideas promoted by the Earth Day Network include pledging to educate friends and family on global warming or buy green products such as energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

In 2012, Earth Day Network is asking people around the world to take the Billion Acts of Green pledge. Already, 980,878,787 people have participated in a green act, such as planting a garden or participating in an Earth Day event, according to the Earth Day Network website.

The group’s goal is to reach one billion actions in time for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012.

“We will present this accomplishment at Rio +20 and use it as a lever to address the UN’s inaction and inspire leaders to reach a global agreement at the Rio+20 conference,” according to the Earth Day Network website.

(See pictures of quirky Earth Day stunts.)

According to Rogers, everyone is part of this generation, which marks the transition from the industrial revolution to the green revolution.

“It is also about the green generation of energy and the generation of green jobs. … The name [Green Generation], whenever I say it to people, they have their own idea of what it means, which is exactly what we want.”

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120420-earth-day-facts-2012-environment-science-nation/

Page 18. Facts about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Benefits of Recycling

Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators;
Conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals;
Prevents pollution caused by reducing the need to collect new raw materials;
Saves energy;
Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change;
Helps sustain the environment for future generations;
Helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States.

http://epa.gov/recycle/recycle.html

Send additional factoids along with a reliable source to: info@earthdaycarol.org