What Counts?
/When we were in San Francisco, I picked up the May 2008 edition of Common Ground magazine and found this interesting list of stats compiled by Jenny Rough. I found them really interesting and in some cases quite crazy (like the 2nd one!). They will make you think.
1.4 million Americans who suffer from hoarding or clutter.80 Percentage of things Americans own that they never use.
300 Million Number of shoes thrown into landfills in the U.S. each year (donate them to www.giveshoes.org instead).
11 Percentage of retired personal computers that were recycled in 2001 (visit www.techsoup.com for info on donating computer hardware).
75 Percent of employed people of recycle at home (yet only 49 percent recycle at work).
5 Number of items needed for "zen-cleansing" (baking soda, borax, lemon, salt, and white vinegar).
25 Percent more headaches experienced by pregnant women who use air fresheners and aerosol cans at home.
92 Billion Number of plastic bags grocery stores and pharmacies go through each year (San Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban large grocery stores and pharmacies from using them).
Sources: treehugger.com, soles4souls.org, techsoup.org, Rastad USA survey, The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing, New Scientist, Newsweek.
