Texas shrink wrapped

Enough plastic is produced in the  US each year to shrink wrap Texas.

NY to LA , twice daily ........ its not an airline

Enough steel and tin cans are thrown out daily in the United States to make a pipe from Los Angeles to New York, twice.If a tenth of these cans were recycled , it would equal 3.2 billion cans recycled each year.

20 Football Fields are created every minute

While the whole world is glued to their TV screens and rooting for their favorite teams, the rate of deforestation across the world equals to the loss of 20 football fields every minute.

India's Elections - Mammoth Democracy's Mammoth Impact on Environment

Now that the dust has been settled and the new government in India is firmly in its place, I was wondering on the environment impact of these elections.

Just did some back of the envelope calculations which I found fascinating enough to share with you all.

Total constituencies in which elections were held  are 543 . There were around 34 national and regional parties which contested the elections. Around 8500 candidates including the independents contested these elections.

If there were only 10 vehicles employed / party  / constituency , it comes to 10 X 34 X 543 = 184,620 Vehicles. Multiply it by average running of 250 Kms./day for the total period of around 90 days , it comes to  184,620 X 250 X 90 = 4,153,950,000 Kms. Divide it by mileage of around 10 Kms / litre of fuel , it comes to 415,395,000 litres of fuel (Imaging the environment impact of so much fuel consumption in 90 days) . Multiply it by cost of fuel which is around 1.5 $ / litre and it comes to close to a 623 Million USD only on fuel cost.

And this is for candidates only. Top it up with the expenditure of various state governments  and central government on moving  the security forces across the length and breadth of the country, one will get a far higher number. Add the fuel spent in gathering the people for various rallies and fuel consumption by people when they came for voting, the number is going to increase significantly.

Just to satiate your curiosity , as per a report from center for media studies , an Indian Think Tank Organization , the total election expenditure in 2014 elections is expected to the tune of USD 5 Billion , making it the 2nd costliest election preceded only by US Presidential election of 2012 which costed around 7 Billion USD.

Deforestation - Cancer to Earth's lungs

In the Amazon,  around 17% forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.

Did You Know ?

Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.

Do we have 3.5 Earth ??

Various estimates indicate that, based on business as usual, ~3.5 Planets Earth would be needed to sustain a global population achieving the current lifestyle of the average European or North American.

5 Minutes = 24 Hours ??? That's Right

A five minute shower in any developed country household  will use more water than a person living in developing world slum will use in whole day.

Water Water everywhere not a drop to drink

Did you know that 780 million people lack access to clean water? That's more than 2.5 times the United States population. 

Nuclear Weapons Vs. Hand Pumps

The cost of one nuclear weapon test alone could finance the installation of eighty thousand hand pumps, giving third world villages access to clean water.

Choice is ours because future is ours. 

Did you know

Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw materials reduces related air pollution by 20% , and water pollution by 50%.

Did you know

Tsunami in Japan during the year 2011,has created a debris of 70 miles,which consists of car,plastic,dead bodies and radioactive waste.

Did you know

The amount of water on Earth is constant,and continually recycled over time;some of the water you drink will have passed through a dinosaur.

Did you know

The Mississippi river carries an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution into the Gulf of Mexico each year creating a "dead zone"  in the gulf each summer , about the size of New Jersey.

Emperor Penguins

A number of penguin species found in western Antarctica are declining as a result of a fall in the availability of krill, a study has suggested.

Warming waters , less sea-ice cover and more whale and seal numbers was cited as reducing the abundance of krill , the main food source for penguins.

"Drunken Forests"

"Drunken Forests", such as this one in Alaska , can be found where large-scale thawing of ground ice has occurred , loosening the soil and causing the trees to randomly lean over and tip. As the fast-melting Arctic sea ice raises the inland temperatures in areas such as Alaska , Canada and Russia , permafrost will continue to  melt and ecosystems such as this one are likely to be continually affected.

Did You Know

In Peninsular Malaysia, more tree species are found in 125 acres of Tropical Forest than in the entire North America.

Air Pollution

We breathe about two gallons of air every minute. On average at current pollution levels, air pollution takes off one to two years off the typical human life span. Air pollution effects kids more than adults , because for their body size, kids breathe more air and spend more time playing outside.