Interesting information on ecology. Ten Strange Facts About Pollution

The energy spent on two attempts to search for information on Google is enough to boil water in a kettle.

“Currently, a single harmless Google search costs our planet 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide ending up in the atmosphere. Few? And if you consider that more than half a billion people use the services of the Google search engine every month?

Every year total area deserts expands to 27 million hectares. Because of this, humanity is losing 25 billion tons of fertile soil every year. The area of land that becomes unsuitable for agricultural production every year is equal to all of Australia's wheat fields combined.

Every year, humanity consumes the products of the Earth's biosphere for an incredible amount of 33 trillion dollars (at the rate of 1997). This figure exceeded the world gross domestic product in 1997 by 1.8 times.

The current population of the Earth is 6.8 billion people. Every day the number of earthlings increases by 218,030 people. According to scientists, by 2040, 9 billion people will already live on Earth. The most populous countries are China (1.33 billion people), India (1.16 billion people), USA (306 million people), Indonesia (230 million people), Brazil (191 million people).

Currently Information Technology are already contributing 2% of CO2 to the Earth's atmosphere, exceeding the carbon dioxide emissions of the entire aviation industry. By 2020, the Internet is expected to account for 20% of all CO2 emissions.

The human race is only 200,000 years old, but in that time we have managed to change the face of the planet. Despite our vulnerability, we have penetrated into all areas of living organisms and captured vast territories.

Over the past 60 years, the population of the Earth has increased by almost 3 times and more than 2 billion people have moved to cities. Every week, more than a million people add to the population of cities around the world.

An enterprise where a thousand people smoke loses about 500 thousand euros a year.

Artisanal gold mining is the source of 30% of the world's mercury pollution.

Pollution groundwater poses a potential threat of contamination of 97% of all stocks of free fresh water planets.

Indoor air pollution (various allergens, bacteria, dust, toxic plastic emissions, cigarette smoke, etc.) in the world constantly affects about a billion people.

Metal production is the source of 6% of all carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere of our planet.

Radioactive waste and uranium mining are the source of millions of liters of highly hazardous waste entering the environment.

Untreated waste water has strong influence the health of 2.6 billion people.

Air pollution in the world's cities is responsible for the deaths of 865,000 people a year.

85% of the 8 million tons of lead released into the environment every year was contained in end-of-life accumulators and batteries.

Water pollution kills 14,000 people a day on Earth.

60% of acute respiratory diseases are associated with adverse environmental factors environment. They are responsible for the death of 2 million children a year.

Recent studies have found that 40% of deaths worldwide are related to air, water and soil pollution.

Every day, two million tons of human waste ends up in natural water bodies.

Plastic production is increasing by 9% every year.

Every year, 260 million tons of plastic products end up in the oceans. All this plastic garbage is carried into the oceans by rivers, streams and sea waves from sushi.

Now it is already difficult to find a person who has not thought about ecology at least once in his life. Everywhere and everywhere we are faced with calls to be more responsible and conscious. Here are some interesting facts and decisions that take place in the world of ecology.

10th place. City without cars
The Swiss small town of Zermatt is off limits to exhaust vehicles. It can only be traveled by bicycle, horse-drawn transport or electric vehicle. Meanwhile, the average car produces about half a kilogram of gaseous waste for every forty kilometers of travel.

9th place. Emissions from the Internet
Sending spam consumes 33 billion kWh of electricity annually, which is accompanied by the release of about 17 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to three million cars. This amount of electricity is enough to power 2.4 million homes. To date, information technology is already the cause of 2% of carbon dioxide entering the Earth's atmosphere. It is predicted that by 2020 the Internet will account for 20% of all CO2 emissions.

8th place. sustainable Agriculture
Modern agriculture produces twice as much food as people need. More than 50% of the grain sold worldwide is fed to livestock or used to produce biofuels.

7th place. Water all around
70% of usable fresh water is consumed by agriculture, 22% is taken by industry and only 0.08% is used in everyday life.

6th place. Alternative sources energy
A crematorium in the Swedish city of Helsingborg supplies heat to 60,000 homes, which is 10% of the energy generated by the local energy company.

5th place. Fish food
Huge business-class ocean liners have golf courses. The main problem with this game is that the balls often go overboard. One German company began to produce special balls in the form of compressed fish food for players who care about the living.

4th place. Kangaroos can't spoil the air
Kangaroos are unique animals - they are not capable of letting gases. The methane formed in the stomach of these animals is continuously processed and absorbed back. Scientists are looking for the gene responsible for this behavior in order to supply cows with it, and ultimately reduce emissions of gases into the atmosphere.

3rd place. And paper can be bad too.
Paper bags are no less harmful to the environment than plastic ones. They take up a lot of space, require more energy to process and manufacture, and in the landfill, due to the layered arrangement, they decompose no faster than their polyethylene counterparts.

2nd place. New system lighting
Concern about energy conservation puzzled in the Chinese city of Dongtan. The problem was solved by Philips: at night, the street in this city is minimally lit, but as soon as a cyclist or car appears on it, the lighting instantly turns on.

1 place. The animal population is declining
According to the famous Harvard biologist Wilson, about 30,000 species of living organisms disappear every year. By the end of this century, the planet Earth will have lost about half of its current biodiversity.
It is predicted that by 2050 a quarter of all species of living organisms will be endangered.published

The average car produces over 0.5 kilograms of waste gas in less than every 35 kilometers. It is worth noting that just 50 years ago, the average car polluted the environment about 25 times more.
In the state of Colorado (USA) there are special sensors that measure environmental pollution after each passing car. As a rule, such sensors are built into curbs.
Just four liters of engine oil is enough to poison over 4 million liters of clean drinking water. It is worth noting that this number, although it seems impressive, is used by only fifty people in one calendar year.
Surprisingly, on average, it turned out that the average house, in which several people live, emits more carbon dioxide than a new car. The most conservative estimates showed that the release of carbon dioxide is at least twice as much.
Metal production is the source of 6% of all carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere of our planet
The Amazon rainforests alone produce more than one-fifth of the world's oxygen supply.
After recent research, it turned out that the cleanest air in the world "lives" on the island of Tasmania, which is located next to the continent of Australia.
Why is it necessary to ventilate the room? Most people spend a huge amount of their time indoors without realizing that indoor air is more than 25 times dirtier than outdoor air.
California beaches are considered one of the cleanest. However, recently, on one of these beaches, a community work day was held, in which environmental volunteers took part and counted the collection of garbage. So in one day more than 330 thousand cigarette butts were collected. It is worth noting that California beaches are considered one of the cleanest, because they are cleaned and cleaned every day, but studies have shown that this is not enough.
Last year, the World Health Organization published a report on environmental pollution. The results are very dismal. For example, in Cairo, the air is very polluted. Breathe under open sky“There all day, for the body, it’s like smoking a pack of cigarettes.
The daily discarding of aluminum cans by Americans suggests that all American aircraft can be rebuilt from them. It is still not clear why they do not reduce the production of drinks coming out in such containers.
Ordinary baby diapers take up at least 1 percent of all US trash cans and take 250 years to decompose. This suggests that in a century and a half or two, diapers may become almost the main source of air pollution in America.
In the US alone, more than two million plastic bottles. Very little is sent for recycling. According to approximate estimates, 230-270 thousand plastic bottles per day.
According to many organizations for economic and environmental cooperation of countries, which are published annually, by 2050. Humanity will continue to receive energy from fossil fuels. This means that the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere will increase in volume by about 50 percent!
Sending spam consumes 33 billion kWh of electricity annually, which is accompanied by the release of about 17 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (like three million cars). This amount of electricity used is enough to power 2.4 million homes.

Humanity

The surface area of the Earth is 148,940,000 km2, of which 18,617,500 km2 (12.5%) is inhabited by humans.
If the population of Africa continues to grow at the same pace as it did in 2011-2012, then the total number of inhabitants of the continent will reach 3.6 billion by 2100. It is noteworthy that the population growth of the human population in Africa is 2.3 percent per year, while in Asia only 1 percent. Although, on the other hand, the population of Asian countries is already too large, so it is unlikely that Asia will ever lag behind Africa in population.
- The population of the planet Earth, every 60 minutes, increases by about nine thousand people. It is noteworthy that on this moment in urban settlements 3.4 billion people live, and by 2050 2/3 of earthlings will live in cities.
- Approximately 2.7 billion people live near or in river basins. This means that for about 30 days a year they cannot even satisfy their needs for clean drinking water.
- In 1960, the need for clean drinking water for the inhabitants of the Middle East was 3.3 thousand liters per year. To date, this need is approaching the sanitary minimum of 1000 liters per year and is 1250-1300 liters. By the way, not only residents of the Middle East experience problems with water supply, but also a number of Asian countries, for example, India, Pakistan, China. Furthermore, recent times, a frightening trend of lack of drinking water exists in the United States of America. It is noteworthy that the IWC (Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change) in its fourth report for 2012 indicated that by about 2030, 2/3 of the entire population of the Earth will experience severe water stress, and it is also predicted by 2050.
- Why isn't planet Earth helping the hungry in Africa? Everything is very simple: to provide a tribe of 350-500 people with average quality food, you need a territory approximately equal to the Czech Republic. Such conditions are almost impossible to create in modern world, although there is land for sowing, it is unlikely a large number of people will be doing this on a volunteer basis.
- Austin Troy of the University of Vermont of Vermont established a connection between the area green spaces and the crime rate of the city of Baltimore. This relationship was as follows, an increase in the area of green spaces in urban areas led to a decrease in crime by 12%.
- 5 tons of cosmetics (sun creams, skin creams, lipstick, shadows) end up in the oceans every year. The female body absorbs 2.5 kg of cosmetics per year.
- Every year, about 125 million functional phones are thrown into the landfill in the world, which are simply tired of their owners.

Waste recycling

In some regions in southern China, there are large-scale condom processing plants. Great hair ribbons are made from recycled materials. However, several authorities have long been threatening to close production, as doctors involved in hygiene are puzzled: on the one hand, such a product is harmless, but on the other, no one conducts a proper examination.
Over eighteen million human diapers are thrown away every year in the United States of America. different ages. By the way, the United States ranks first in the world for recycling old things.
It is known that in order to establish the production of coffins, a lot of effort and materials are required. For example, more than 90 thousand tons of steel, a little less than 3 thousand tons of copper and other precious metals. Accordingly, the most main material- wood. Plus, toxic wood treatment. The British company Ecopod has come up with a more original and less expensive way to make coffins… make them entirely from recycled compressed paper.
Only 4 percent of the world's population lives in the United States of America. Despite this, this country is in first place in the world in the "production" of garbage. Let's take 2006 as an example. Then the Americans handed over for processing and threw away more than 250 million tons of waste! This is almost ten times more than Canadians. Remarkably, waste in the US is, in a sense, new waste. After all, they accumulated in the process of consumption modern products, production, technology use and so on.
Long before the advocacy of recycling and conservation of the natural environment, the majority of Europeans already practiced the recycling of waste for certain needs. A striking example of tanners in the Middle Ages. They collected human urine, which was used to process leather goods and tan them. By the way, urine was also used to create gunpowder.
More than 70 percent of the world's e-waste ends up in China. There, entire family businesses recycle once-expensive gadgets and give them new life. Actually, this explains the fact that the market is filled with cheap smartphones from a Chinese manufacturer. It is worth noting that the methods of processing "electronic waste" are by no means a good invention, because they seriously pollute the environment, and also adversely affect people's health.
There is an erroneous misconception that the Wall of China and the "most luminous city" New York are clearly visible from space. This opinion is erroneous, as the astronauts said that it was easier for them to see the world's largest landfills than these sights.

In conclusion, let us remind readers how long it takes for seemingly harmless objects to decompose:

Cigarette butt (with filter) - at least twelve years;
Aluminum or tin can - at least 200 years, sometimes up to 500;
Sanitary pads or diapers require at least 500 years;

Water

According to the UN report at the climate change conference in Copenhagen by 2050, the acidity of the oceans will increase by 150%, which will cause irreversible changes in marine ecosystems.
- Every day, two million tons of human waste ends up in natural water bodies.
- Every year, 260 million tons of plastic products end up in the oceans. All this plastic waste is carried into the oceans by rivers, streams and sea waves from land.
- Water pollution kills 14,000 people a day on Earth.
- Greenland's ice contains 20% of the world's fresh water. If they melt, the sea level will rise by about 7 meters.
- Wetlands make up 6% of the planet's surface. They are the natural filter of the planet. Over the past century, half of the planet's swamps have been drained.
- To grow 1 kilogram of potatoes, you need to spend 100 liters of water, 1 kilogram of rice - 4,000 liters of water, 1 kilogram of beef - 13,000 liters of water.
- It takes 2400 liters of water to produce one single hamburger. The main items of water consumption in the preparation of a hamburger are the cultivation of wheat and livestock of large cattle.
- 70-80% of all fresh water consumed by people is used in agriculture. The extremely inefficient use of water in the agricultural industry is inherent in all countries of the world. 30% of water used in agriculture can be saved by improving irrigation systems alone

Living world and nature

It is known that approximately 8 million living organisms live on Earth, and only ¼ of them have been described. This means that, on average, only 25 percent of the creatures that live in the world are known to man. However, about 100 thousand living organisms are described every year, so in 60 years, it is quite possible that a person will know almost all species.
If the global temperature rises by at least 4 degrees, then forests will leave almost the entire territory. modern Russia, as well as deforestation will take over almost all middle Europe, as well as western Siberia. If the temperature rises by 2 degrees, which should happen in the near future, then the total forest cover zone will even cover the tundra zone.
In Austria there is whole system rivers, which is more than sensitive to climate. If the temperature rises by only 1 degree, then the volume of water flow decreases by more than 15 percent! It is noteworthy that at the moment the flow rate of one of the Murray rivers is approximately 1780 gigalitres / year. And just three years ago it was 8890 gigalitres / year.
In 2012, more than 43 percent of the surface of the planet Earth is occupied by anthropogenic policies (industry, construction, agriculture, and so on).
According to the Potsdam-based Institute for Climate Measurement and Evaluation, the level of the world's oceans is rising at a tremendous rate, which could soon lead to disaster. The institute's current estimate is 60 percent for 2012. This differs significantly from the IPCC assessment. Every year, the ocean rises by 3.2 millimeters. The IPCC gives a score of 2 millimeters.

The average car produces over 0.5 kilograms of waste gas in less than every 35 kilometers. It is worth noting that just 50 years ago, the average car polluted the environment about 25 times more.
In the state of Colorado (USA) there are special sensors that measure environmental pollution after each passing car. As a rule, such sensors are built into curbs.
Just four liters of engine oil is enough to poison over 4 million liters of clean drinking water. It is worth noting that this number, although it seems impressive, is used by only fifty people in one calendar year.
Surprisingly, on average, it turned out that the average house, in which several people live, emits more carbon dioxide than a new car. The most conservative estimates showed that the release of carbon dioxide is at least twice as much.
Metal production is the source of 6% of all carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere of our planet
The Amazon rainforests alone produce more than one-fifth of the world's oxygen supply.
After recent research, it turned out that the cleanest air in the world "lives" on the island of Tasmania, which is located next to the continent of Australia.
Why is it necessary to ventilate the room? Most people spend a huge amount of their time indoors without realizing that indoor air is more than 25 times dirtier than outdoor air.
California beaches are considered one of the cleanest. However, recently, on one of these beaches, a community work day was held, in which environmental volunteers took part and counted the collection of garbage. So in one day more than 330 thousand cigarette butts were collected. It is worth noting that California beaches are considered one of the cleanest, because they are cleaned and cleaned every day, but studies have shown that this is not enough.
Last year, the World Health Organization published a report on environmental pollution. The results are very dismal. For example, in Cairo, the air is very polluted. Breathing "under the open sky" there all day, for the body, is like smoking a pack of cigarettes.
The daily discarding of aluminum cans by Americans suggests that all American aircraft can be rebuilt from them. It is still not clear why they do not reduce the production of drinks coming out in such containers.
Ordinary baby diapers take up at least 1 percent of all US trash cans and take 250 years to decompose. This suggests that in a century and a half or two, diapers may become almost the main source of air pollution in America.
In the US alone, more than two million plastic bottles are emptied and thrown away in an hour. Very little is sent for recycling. According to approximate estimates, 230-270 thousand plastic bottles per day.
According to many organizations for economic and environmental cooperation of countries, which are published annually, by 2050. Humanity will continue to receive energy from fossil fuels. This means that the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere will increase in volume by about 50 percent!
Sending spam consumes 33 billion kWh of electricity annually, which is accompanied by the release of about 17 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (like three million cars). This amount of electricity used is enough to power 2.4 million homes.

Humanity

The surface area of the Earth is 148,940,000 km2, of which 18,617,500 km2 (12.5%) is inhabited by humans.
If the population of Africa continues to grow at the same pace as it did in 2011-2012, then the total number of inhabitants of the continent will reach 3.6 billion by 2100. It is noteworthy that the population growth of the human population in Africa is 2.3 percent per year, while in Asia only 1 percent. Although, on the other hand, the population of Asian countries is already too large, so it is unlikely that Asia will ever lag behind Africa in population.
- The population of the planet Earth, every 60 minutes, increases by about nine thousand people. It is noteworthy that at the moment 3.4 billion people live in urban areas, and by 2050 2/3 of earthlings will live in cities.
- Approximately 2.7 billion people live near or in river basins. This means that for about 30 days a year they cannot even satisfy their needs for clean drinking water.
- In 1960, the need for clean drinking water for the inhabitants of the Middle East was 3.3 thousand liters per year. To date, this need is approaching the sanitary minimum of 1000 liters per year and is 1250-1300 liters. By the way, not only residents of the Middle East experience problems with water supply, but also a number of Asian countries, for example, India, Pakistan, China. Moreover, recently, a frightening trend of lack of drinking water has also been observed in the United States of America. It is noteworthy that the IWC (Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change) in its fourth report for 2012 indicated that by about 2030, 2/3 of the entire population of the Earth will experience severe water stress, and it is also predicted by 2050.
- Why isn't planet Earth helping the hungry in Africa? Everything is very simple: to provide a tribe of 350-500 people with average quality food, you need a territory approximately equal to the Czech Republic. It is practically impossible to create such conditions in the modern world, although there are lands for sowing, it is unlikely that a large number of people will do this on a volunteer basis.
- Austin Troy of the University of Vermont found a link between green space and crime in the city of Baltimore. This relationship was as follows, an increase in the area of green spaces in urban areas led to a decrease in crime by 12%.
- 5 tons of cosmetics (sun creams, skin creams, lipstick, shadows) end up in the oceans every year. The female body absorbs 2.5 kg of cosmetics per year.
- Every year, about 125 million functional phones are thrown into the landfill in the world, which are simply tired of their owners.

Waste recycling

In some regions in southern China, there are large-scale condom processing plants. Great hair ribbons are made from recycled materials. However, several authorities have long been threatening to close production, as doctors involved in hygiene are puzzled: on the one hand, such a product is harmless, but on the other, no one conducts a proper examination.
In the United States of America, more than eighteen million diapers for people of all ages are thrown away each year. By the way, the United States ranks first in the world for recycling old things.
It is known that in order to establish the production of coffins, a lot of effort and materials are required. For example, more than 90 thousand tons of steel, a little less than 3 thousand tons of copper and other precious metals. Accordingly, the most important material is wood. Plus, toxic wood treatment. The British company Ecopod has come up with a more original and less expensive way to make coffins… make them entirely from recycled compressed paper.
Only 4 percent of the world's population lives in the United States of America. Despite this, this country is in first place in the world in the "production" of garbage. Let's take 2006 as an example. Then the Americans handed over for processing and threw away more than 250 million tons of waste! This is almost ten times more than Canadians. Remarkably, waste in the US is, in a sense, new waste. After all, they accumulated in the process of consumption of modern products, production, use of technology, and so on.
Long before the advocacy of recycling and conservation of the natural environment, the majority of Europeans already practiced the recycling of waste for certain needs. A striking example of tanners in the Middle Ages. They collected human urine, which was used to process leather goods and tan them. By the way, urine was also used to create gunpowder.
More than 70 percent of the world's e-waste ends up in China. There, entire family businesses recycle once-expensive gadgets and give them new life. Actually, this explains the fact that the market is filled with cheap smartphones from a Chinese manufacturer. It is worth noting that the methods of processing "electronic waste" are by no means a good invention, because they seriously pollute the environment, and also adversely affect people's health.
There is an erroneous misconception that the Wall of China and the "most luminous city" New York are clearly visible from space. This opinion is erroneous, as the astronauts said that it was easier for them to see the world's largest landfills than these sights.

In conclusion, let us remind readers how long it takes for seemingly harmless objects to decompose:

Cigarette butt (with filter) - at least twelve years;
Aluminum or tin can - at least 200 years, sometimes up to 500;
Sanitary pads or diapers require at least 500 years;

Water

According to the UN report at the climate change conference in Copenhagen by 2050, the acidity of the oceans will increase by 150%, which will cause irreversible changes in marine ecosystems.
- Every day, two million tons of human waste ends up in natural water bodies.
- Every year, 260 million tons of plastic products end up in the oceans. All this plastic waste is carried into the oceans by rivers, streams and sea waves from land.
- Water pollution kills 14,000 people a day on Earth.
- Greenland's ice contains 20% of the world's fresh water. If they melt, the sea level will rise by about 7 meters.
- Wetlands make up 6% of the planet's surface. They are the natural filter of the planet. Over the past century, half of the planet's swamps have been drained.
- To grow 1 kilogram of potatoes, you need to spend 100 liters of water, 1 kilogram of rice - 4,000 liters of water, 1 kilogram of beef - 13,000 liters of water.
- It takes 2400 liters of water to produce one single hamburger. The main items of water consumption in the preparation of a hamburger are the cultivation of wheat and cattle.
- 70-80% of all fresh water consumed by people is used in agriculture. The extremely inefficient use of water in the agricultural industry is inherent in all countries of the world. 30% of water used in agriculture can be saved by improving irrigation systems alone

Living world and nature

It is known that approximately 8 million living organisms live on Earth, and only ¼ of them have been described. This means that, on average, only 25 percent of the creatures that live in the world are known to man. However, about 100 thousand living organisms are described every year, so in 60 years, it is quite possible that a person will know almost all species.
If the global temperature rises by at least 4 degrees, then forests will leave almost the entire territory of modern Russia, and deforestation will capture almost all of central Europe, as well as western Siberia. If the temperature rises by 2 degrees, which should happen in the near future, then the total forest cover zone will even cover the tundra zone.
In Austria, there is a whole system of rivers that is more than sensitive to climate. If the temperature rises by only 1 degree, then the volume of water flow decreases by more than 15 percent! It is noteworthy that at the moment the flow rate of one of the Murray rivers is approximately 1780 gigalitres / year. And just three years ago it was 8890 gigalitres / year.
In 2012, more than 43 percent of the surface of the planet Earth is occupied by anthropogenic policies (industry, construction, agriculture, and so on).
According to the Potsdam-based Institute for Climate Measurement and Evaluation, the level of the world's oceans is rising at a tremendous rate, which could soon lead to disaster. The institute's current estimate is 60 percent for 2012. This differs significantly from the IPCC assessment. Every year, the ocean rises by 3.2 millimeters. The IPCC gives a score of 2 millimeters.

Source

The energy spent on two attempts to search for information on Google is enough to boil water in a kettle.

Currently, a single harmless Google search costs our planet 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide ending up in the atmosphere. Few? And if you consider that the services of the Google search engine are used by more than half a billion people every month?

12% of the entire surface of the Earth has the status of a reserve.

For each new car, 0.07 hectares of land must be allocated for the construction of roads and parking lots.

The advanced fishing fleets, which make up only 1% of the world's fishing fleet, account for 50% of the world's fish caught.

Over the past 30 years, fish consumption in China has increased sixfold.

63% of all agricultural land on the planet is subject to erosion.

Every year, the total area of deserts expands by 27 million hectares. Because of this, humanity is losing 25 billion tons of fertile soil every year. The area of land that becomes unsuitable for agricultural production every year is equal to all of Australia's wheat fields combined.

Approximately 28 percent of all human-related methane emissions are emitted by bacteria that produce methane in gastrointestinal tract cattle, sheep, goats and other livestock.

In 1800, only 3% of the world's population lived in cities. In 2008, the number of urban residents amounted to 50% of all mankind. In 2030, 60% of all people on Earth will live in cities.

Only 10% Earth's surface is more than 48 hours away from the nearest big city. The most remote corner of the Earth is Tibet.

Sending spam consumes 33 billion kWh of electricity annually, which is accompanied by the release of about 17 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (like three million cars). This amount of electricity used is enough to power 2.4 million homes.

Currently, information technology is already responsible for 2% of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere, exceeding the carbon dioxide emissions of the entire aviation industry. By 2020, the Internet is expected to account for 20% of all CO2 emissions.

On average, 9% of all fresh water humanity removes from the environment. This figure varies in different parts of our planet. So in North America, 8.4% of all fresh water is withdrawn from water bodies, in Asia - 18.5%, in Europe - 6.4%, Latin America- 2%, Africa - 5.6%.

1,664 cubic meters of fresh water per year is consumed by the average citizen North America. Asia ranks second in terms of water consumption, here the average resident consumes 644 cubic meters of fresh water per year. The average global water consumption is 626 cubic meters of fresh water per person per year.

1000 liters of water are required to grow a kilogram of wheat.

It takes 15,000 liters of water to get one kilogram of beef. The average resident of the US and Europe consumes 5,000 liters of water per day by eating meat. While for drinking and hygienic needs it consumes "only" 100 - 250 liters of water per day.

It takes 2400 liters of water to produce one single hamburger. The main items of water consumption in the preparation of a hamburger are the cultivation of wheat and cattle.

70-80% of all fresh water consumed by people is used in agriculture. The extremely inefficient use of water in the agricultural industry is inherent in all countries of the world. 30% of water used in agriculture can be saved by improving irrigation systems alone.

Energy consumption of the global Internet is growing by 10% per year.

According to the famous Harvard biologist Wilson, about 30,000 species of living organisms disappear from the face of the Earth every year. By the end of this century, the Earth will have lost about half of its current biodiversity.

Every year on Earth, 10 million children die, 200 million children under 5 years of age are stunted, 800 million people go to sleep hungry every night, 1.5 billion people do not have constant access to clean drinking water.

On the planet, one in four of us leads a lifestyle characteristic of the human race 6 thousand years ago, and there are 1.5 billion such people, more than the entire population of rich countries combined.

Every sixth person in the world lives in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.

To grow 1 kilogram of potatoes, you need to spend 100 liters of water, 1 kilogram of rice - 4,000 liters of water, 1 kilogram of beef - 13,000 liters of water.

Modern agriculture produces twice as much food as people need. More than 50% of grain sold worldwide is fed to livestock or used to produce biofuels.

80% of all extracted natural resources are consumed by 20% of the world's population, the mighty of the world this. Moreover, most of the resources are extracted in developing countries, however, exactly half of the world's poor live in resource-rich countries of the world.

Even before the end of this century, irrational development of deposits will lead to the fact that almost all of the planet's mineral reserves will be depleted.

Since 1950 volume international trade increased 20 times. 90% of trade turnover is carried out by sea. About 500 million containers are transported by sea every year.

The world spends 12 times more on weapons Money than to help developing countries.

Our way of development did not ensure the achievement of our goals. In 50 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened more than ever. Today, half of the world's wealth is in the hands of the 2% of the population. Hunger affects 1 billion people in the world.

Since the middle of the last century, fishing catches have increased fivefold from 18 to 100 million metric tons of fish per year. Thousands of fishing trawlers devastate the oceans. 3/4 (75%) of fish resources are depleted or endangered. Most of big fish disappeared forever, because regular catches did not leave them a chance to leave offspring. With the current rate of change in living conditions, all fish populations are under threat of extinction. However, fish is still included in the main diet of every fifth person on the planet.

500 million people live in deserts, more than the entire population European countries taken together. 5,000 people die every day due to drinking contaminated drinking water. 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water.

Due to the diversion of river waters for irrigation of fields, around the planet, one in ten major rivers no longer flows into the sea for several months of the year.

The water level in the Dead Sea, devoid of the flow of the Jordan River, which is taken to irrigate fields, drops by 1 meter annually.

Until 2025, about two billion people could suffer from water shortages.

Wetlands make up 6% of the planet's surface. They are the natural filter of the planet. Over the past century, half of the planet's swamps have been drained.

Primeval forests are habitat 3/4 species planets. In 40 years, the area of the Amazonian rainforest has decreased by 20%.

Every year, 13 million hectares of forest disappear from the face of the Earth.

One in four mammals, one in eight birds and one in three amphibians is endangered. Currently, species of living organisms are dying out 1000 times faster than natural rates.

The thickness of the northern polar cap has decreased by 40% in 40 years. According to the most optimistic calculations, by the summer of 2030, this hat may completely disappear. According to the most pessimistic calculations, this will happen in a couple of years.

The average temperature over the past 15 years has reached its highest level.

The concentration of carbon dioxide over the past hundreds of thousands of years has never been as high as it is now.

By 2050, a quarter of all living organisms will be at risk of extinction.

Greenland's ice contains 20% of the world's fresh water. If they melt, the sea level will rise by about 7 meters.

As a result global warming The sea level has risen by 20 centimeters in the 20th century.

70% of the world's population lives on the coastal plains. 11 out of 15 largest cities The world is not located on the coastline or in river deltas.

30% of the world's coral reefs have disappeared.

80% of the glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro have disappeared. The same fate awaits the Himalayas. All the largest rivers of Asia originate in the Himalayas, on the banks of which hundreds of millions of people live.

By 2050, the number of climate refugees could reach 200 million.

The amount of carbon dioxide "frozen" in glaciers is 1.5 billion, which is twice the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the Earth's atmosphere.

Arctic ice has become thinner by 70 centimeters in 5 years.

In 2002, the total carbon dioxide emissions caused by the operation of all data centers on the planet was estimated at 76 million tons. This amount is expected to triple by 2020.

5 tons of cosmetics (sun creams, skin creams, lipstick, shadows) end up in the oceans every year. The female body absorbs 2.5 kg of cosmetics per year.

Every year, about 125 million functional phones are thrown into the landfill in the world, which are simply tired of their owners.

More than 90% of the total river water intake of the region is spent on irrigation of agricultural fields in Central Asia.

By 2050, the volume of river flow in the Amudarya will be reduced by 10-15%, and in the Syrdarya by 6-10%.

Over the 20th century, the area of glaciers in Tajikistan has decreased by 20-30%, and in Afghanistan by 50-70%.

Frequency natural Disasters on the planet in the period from 2000 to 2006 increased by 187% compared with the previous decade.

Over the past 5 years, the air temperature in Tibet has risen by 1.5 degrees. Over the past 20 years, the mass of mountain glaciers in Tibet has decreased by 8%.

By 2030, the world's population will increase by one third to 8 billion people. Population growth will lead to an increase in demand for food by 50%, water by 30%, and energy by 50%.

The surface area of the Earth is 148,940,000 km2, of which 18,617,500 km2 (12.5%) is inhabited by humans.

Over the past 110 years, there have been 11 winters in Russia, when the temperature deviations from the average long-term norm exceeded 2 degrees, and 9 of them - over the past 30 years. In 1968 there was only one winter when the temperature was below the long-term average.

Bacteria make up 2 to 5 kg of your body weight!

Five hundred million wealthy people in the world (7% of the total population of the planet) are responsible for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. 50% of the world's poor are responsible for only 7% of global emissions.

An enterprise where a thousand people smoke loses about 500 thousand euros a year.

Artisanal gold mining is the source of 30% of the world's mercury pollution.

Groundwater pollution has the potential to pollute 97% of the world's free fresh water resources.

Indoor air pollution (various allergens, bacteria, dust, toxic plastic emissions, cigarette smoke, etc.) in the world constantly affects about a billion people.

Metal production is the source of 6% of all carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere of our planet.

Radioactive waste and uranium mining are the source of millions of liters of highly hazardous waste entering the environment.

Raw sewage has a major impact on the health of 2.6 billion people.

Air pollution in the world's cities is responsible for the deaths of 865,000 people a year.

85% of the 8 million tons of lead released into the environment every year was contained in end-of-life accumulators and batteries.

Breathing in the polluted air of Cairo during the day is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day.

Water pollution kills 14,000 people a day on Earth.

60% of acute respiratory diseases are associated with adverse environmental factors. They are responsible for the death of 2 million children a year.

Recent studies have found that 40% of deaths worldwide are related to air, water and soil pollution.

Every day, two million tons of human waste ends up in natural water bodies.

Plastic production is increasing by 9% every year.

Every year, 260 million tons of plastic products end up in the oceans. All this plastic waste is carried into the oceans by rivers, streams and sea waves from land.

Snow on Kilimanjaro will be completely gone by 2033.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, 28% of the Russian population uses "hard" water for drinking purposes.

Bluefin tuna by 2012 may cease to exist as a species.

As a result of melting permafrost, the area of Russia is shrinking by 30 square kilometers every year.

According to the UN report at the climate change conference in Copenhagen by 2050, the acidity of the oceans will increase by 150%, which will cause irreversible changes in marine ecosystems.