There are some facts that you just cannot avoid.

• Every minute of every day, the U.S. loses two acres of agricultural land to development, up to 1.2 million acres per year. American Farmland Trust
• The rate of lost farm and ranch land is 51% faster today than in the 1980’s. American Farmland Trust
• Over the past 20 years the acreage per person for new housing almost doubled. American Farmland Trust
• From 1982 to 1997 more than 3 acres of primary forest and cropland was developed ever minute of every day (totaling over 98.2 million acres in 1997 alone). U.S. Department of Agriculture
• The U.S. has lost 17 million acres of formerly tilled land to soil erosion since it was founded, more than any other nation in the world over the same time period. NRCS
• From 1955 urban and suburban development increased by 300% while populations increased only 75%. Cambridge University Press, The State of the Nation’s Ecosystems
• By 2050 U.S. Forest Service estimates that the U.S. will lose 23 million acres of existing forest lands. U.S. Forest Service
• By 2030 one third of all plants and animals will be extinct. 55,000 species are lost every year, more species than went extinct during the age of the dinosaurs. Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
• From the year 2000 to the year 2030 the amount of construction will equal 50% of the volume of all the buildings that currently exist. In 2030, 427 billion sq. ft. constructed building will exist. 182 billion sq. ft. will be devoted to personal housing. However, the material to build these structures does not at this time exist and may not be available in the future without recycling. Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
• The world’s population is now over 6 billion individuals, by the turn of the century it will exceed 9 billion individual and could be as high as 12 billion individuals. IPCC
• The world now lacks potable drinking water for 2 billion people and that number is increasing daily. CSIRO
• To produce one kilogram of: oven dry wheat gain, it takes up to 750 liters of water; corn, up to 630 liters of water; rice, up to 1550 liters of water; soybeans, up to 2200 liters of water; beef protein, up to 100,000 liters of water; and wool, up to 170,000 liters of water. CSIRO
• In a study conducted in the United States between 1982 and 1998, a 1°C increase in temperature decreased corn, wheat and rice production by over 10%. In other countries that decrease ranged up to 17%. In some countries, however, crop production increased as temperature increased. IPCC
• The IPCC predicts an increase in global temperatures of 1.4-5.8°C in this century. IPCC
• As of 2000 the world was no longer sustainable. National Geographic Study
• Although tropical forests cover only about 7 percent of the Earth’s land, they probably harbor about half of all the species on Earth. They could be extinct by the end of this century.NASA
• In the next 24 hours, deforestation will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Rainforest Concern
• Forests provide 1/3 of the world’s drinking water. Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
• The deforestation rate in the 1990s was estimated at 14.6 million hectares per year; since 5.2 million hectares were gained through afforestation (i.e. establishing a forest on previously unforested land) and natural expansion of forests, the rate of net deforestation was 9.4 million hectares per year. UN Study on Deforestation
• Every minute of every day 21 children die of hunger. 6 million children under the age of 5 die each year from hunger and lack of water and that number could continue to increase as our climate changes. CARE
• 854 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago. Many of these people could soon die from malnutrition or lack of clean drinking water. Bread for the World
• Worldwide, the United Nations estimates that 60 percent of the most valuable commercial fisheries are currently over-fished, or fished to the limit. WWF
• By the year 2050 we will have run out of most of our sustainable forests, most of our carbon energy used for transportation and construction and we will have placed such a strain on our growing populations that single-family housing will be considered a luxury. UN Study on Sustainability / Populations
• 8,000 lbs of waste are typically thrown into the landfill during the construction of a 2,000 square foot home. Green Builder
  
• Consumers throw out about 25% of the food they purchase (about 163 pounds of food per person per year).
• $1 out of every $11 spent on food goes to packaging.
• Plastic grocery bags are used less than 25 minutes and last in a landfill about 450 years.
• 32 percent of all municipal waste is from packaging.
• Even though recycling of beverage cans is on the increase we still bury over 100,000,000 aluminum cans in landfills each day. By recycling aluminum we use 95% less energy in the production of a new product.
• To make one ton of virgin paper we must cut down four acres of forest or at least 17 mature trees.  A three-foot stack of newspapers weights about 100 pounds and is equal to one mature 30-foot tree.
• The average U.S. family gets 41 pounds of junk mail each year (about 560 pieces).  50% goes directly to the trash and a landfill. The cost to transport unsolicited mail cost about $550 million dollars per year and consumes 100 million trees; in addition on a per family basis there is an additional 125 million gallons of water used to produce this mail and a releases of 460 pounds of carbon produced for each family the mail is sent to.  Get your name off third class mailing lists and you will cut down on junk mail.
• Roughly half of all the garbage generates is organic and could be composted.  In the fall one-half of that is in leaves and put into plastic bags where it generate methane gas which is three times more powerful than carbon as a greenhouse gas.
• Save energy and buy appliances that are Energy Star labeled and you can save up to 30% on your energy costs.
• Save water and buy kitchen and bathroom fixtures that carry the label WaterSense™, the faucets use 30% less water (1.5 gallons per minute or less), toilets use 20% less water (1.3 gallons per flush or less).
• A New mattress, new couch, new kitchen cabinets, fresh paint or new carpeting and pads can increase the VOC’s (volatile organic compounds / toxins) in a house by up to 70% for over one year or more causing headaches, sickness and unexplained respiratory or auto immune illness.  Look for low or no VOC labels.