Facts & Figures
Cost of a plastic bottle of water in Nosara: 1,000 colones Number of years it takes a plastic bottle of water to break down completely in a landfill: Up to 1,000 years Chance of an American home having at least one container of ice cream in the freezer: 9 in 10 Kilograms of plastic recycled by the Harmony Hotel in 2007: around 400 kilograms Kilograms of plastic produced yearly by the average Indian, European and American citizen, respectively: 2, 60, 80 Percentage of the Earth´s Surface Covered in Water: 70-75 Percentage of the Earth´s water that is available for human consumption: 1 Gallons of water used in a five minute shower: 20-35 Gallons of water to needed to print a single day´s supply of U.S. newsprint: 300 million Percentage of the world´s population consisting of U.S. citizens: 5 Percentage of the world´s energy supply that the U.S. currently consumes: 26 Pounds of carbon dioxide that will be saved from being emitted into the atmosphere by replacing a single incandescent light bulb for an energy saving compact fluorescent: 1000 Dollars saved by reducing 1% of the world’s current energy consumption: 1 billion The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is a composite index tracking 21 elements of environmental sustainability covering natural resource endowments, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts, contributions to protection of the global commons, and a society's capacity to improve its environmental performance over time. Here are how some countries ranked:
Time it takes to recycle one aluminum can: 30 seconds Amount of energy saved by recycling one aluminum can: Enough to operate a TV for three hours “Business is on the verge of…a transformation, a change brought on by social and biological forces that can no longer be ignored or put aside, a change so thorough and sweeping that in the decades to come business will be unrecognizable when compared to the commercial institutions of today. We have the capacity and ability to create a remarkably different economy, on that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security”
The Ecology of Commerce
Percentage of the earth’s species that live in tropical rainforests: 50 Percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation: 20 Hectares of tropical rainforest existing in the world in the year 1800: 2.9 billion Hectares of tropical rainforest existing in the world today: 1.5 billion Percentage of the earth’s tropical rainforests that are currently protected under law: 4 |