WHERE DO ALL THOSE STATS ON PLASTIC POLLUTION COME FROM?

The other day I sent out an email blast to members of the church I belong to and where I sing on Sundays.  It concerned my activism and concern for the ocean and our environment because of our use/misuse of plastic.

One of the replies I received was very pointed and shall I say skeptical of the consequences of all this plastic in the oceans and in our environment.  That’s OK.

In fact, it seems to me since we can no longer trust the MSM to provide citizens with unbiased information it should be de rigeur to search, seek, and verify the information we are receiving, regardless of the source.

Essentially, the questions were, “Where do all these stats come from?  Are they made up? Can they be believed?”  Good questions all because if we’re going to ask people to change their life styles, stop using a particular product or service, we need to provide accurate information.

Some of the stats you see quoted most often can be viewed at Clean Air Council, hardly a radical group.  The group has been around since 1987.  A visit to their site is well worth it.  There is a wealth of information contained on the site and it concerns all kinds of types of pollution and waste reduction data.

Here are a few stats from the site that you may not have seen:

• Only about one-tenth of all solid garbage in the United States gets recycled.
• Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.
• Each day the United States throws away enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.
• Almost 1/3 of the waste generated the U.S. is packaging

• The amount of glass bottles Americans throw away every two weeks would have filled both World Trade Center towers.
• Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply all our nation’s automakers every day.
• Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.
• In the U.S., an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the holidays. Four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags

I found this video on You Tube last week.  It is very good… enjoy!