In our day to day life, the conveniences of zip lock bags, paper towels, disposable plastic utensils and plates for summer picnics and plastic to-go bags at the store are hard to give up. So are the ritual habits of running the water while we brush our teeth, falling asleep while the tv is on, keeping the heat high in winter and leaving appliances on when you go to sleep. It is just plain old habit. Have you ever stopped to think what all of this ‘green’ talk is?
What would REALLY change if I stopped using ziplock bags or turned off the water when I brush my teeth- how much am I really saving and what good is it doing for the earth?! Here are some “Did You Know” facts about all of these issues and a few suggestions for how you can help make a difference and why:
- The average American uses 650 pounds of paper each year! If everyone chose recycled products. 100 million tons of wood could be saved each year!
- Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
- An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags. Plastic bags are often mistakenly ingested by animals, clogging their intestines which results in death by starvation. Other animals or birds become entangled in plastic bags and drown or can’t fly as a result.- USE REUSABLE BAGS or RECYCLE THEM!!
- Americans consume more than 10 billion paper bags per year. Approximately 14 million trees are cut down every year for paper bag production.
- Did you know that 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, but we are currently only recycling 28% of our trash!
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. In spite of this, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every three months!
- If you replace 25% of your light bulbs with fluorescents, you can save about 20% on your lighting bill.
- Recycled plastic bottles can be made into products such as clothing, carpeting, detergent bottles and lumber for outdoor decking.
- Americans buy an estimated 29.8 billion plastic water bottles every year. 8 out of every 10 bottles purchased end up in the landfill.
- Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60-watt light bulb for up to six hours. It can also be turned into products such as clothing, carpeting, detergent bottles and lumber for outdoor decking.
- A leaky faucet can waste 100 gallons a day. An average family of four uses 881 gallons of water per week just by flushing the toilet.
- You use about 5 gallons of water if you leave the water running while brushing your teeth.
- An automatic dishwasher uses 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.
- Use of bowl of water to clean fruits & vegetables rather than running water over them. You can reuse this for your house plants.
Photo by MikeBaird
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