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Concrete washings are arguably the most harmful, yet least recognized pollutant entering our waterways. Thirty per cent of all I Fish kills reported in Auckland streams are due to concrete and cement wastewater discharges. I You would need a large road tanker full of water (approximately 10,000 liters) to neutralist 1 liter of cement slurry. Dilution I list not the solution, as it only extends the deadly effects further downstream. I Every year in the Auckland region over 85,000 tones of dirt enters our streams, lakes, estuaries and harbors. Sediment can I I kill aquatic organisms just like a chemical can.
Relieved, sediment is by volume the biggest single water pollutant. In Auckland, sediment is the largest cause Of shellfish I losses in our estuaries, not chemical spills. In a stream entering Lucas Creek, a major sediment discharge wiped out the native trout that then took almost seven years to I re-establish in the stream. I Organic substances like food and grass clippings can cause significant adverse effects if allowed enter into a waterway. Approximately nine million liters of oil is unaccounted for each year in the Auckland region – which probably means we end up I lessening and fishing in it!
Just 1 liter of oil can cover the reface of mm of water. Atwater that goes down our outside drains flow directly to our streams, Lake Puke and beaches without being treated. Human influenced facts [Pick] o If just 25% of U. S. Families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we would save over 2. 5 BILLION bags a year. O On the average, the 140 million cars in America are estimated to travel almost 4 billion miles in a day, and according to the Department of Transportation, they use over 200 million gallons of gasoline doing it. O Every year we throw away 24 million tons of leaves and grass.
Leaves alone account for 75% of our solid waste in the Over 1 00 pesticide ingredients are suspected to cause birth defects, cancer, and gene mutations. O Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil. O About 1% of U. S. Landfill space is full of disposable diapers, which take 500 years to decompose. O Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for 3 hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline. O Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw materials reduces related air pollution by 20%, and water pollution by 50%. Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually consuming more than 850 million trees. O Homeowners use up to 10 mimes more toxic chemicals per acre than farmers. O By turning down your central heating thermostat one degree, fuel consumption is cut by as much as 10%. O Insulating your attic reduces the amount of energy loss in most houses by up to 20%. O Enough glass was thrown away in 1 990 to fill the Twin Towers (1 ,350 feet high) of New Work’s World Trade Center every two weeks. O One ton of carbon dioxide that is released in the air can be prevented by replacing every 75 watt light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. Many banks lent large sums of money to developing nations. In order to pay those debts plus interest many nations have turned to the inning of their natural resources as a source of financial aid. O Every day 40,000 children die from preventable diseases. O The public transportation that we have is a wreck. The U. S. Continues to promote and invest in private car travel rather than public transportation. O The human population of the world is expected to be nearly tripled by the year o A three percent annual growth rate will result in the doubling of 2100. Consumption and production of food and other products in 25 short years.
The amount of motor vehicles that are expected to be operated will increase 15 million a year until at least 2010. 0 The world’s per capita grain reduction has been on the downfall since 1985 despite the use of fertilizers and pesticides. O Already a train system has been developed (back in 1987) which is based on magnetic levitation and causes minimal pollution. These versions of a train are already in use in several countries. O Fiber optics, made of glass, are being used to replace copper cables throughout the world. O The uncontrolled fishing that is allowed has reduced the amount of commercial species.
Some species, up to one-tenth of their original population. O Every day 50 to 100 species of plants and animals become extinct as their habitat and human influences destroy them. Pick] The Earth [pick o Deserts are advancing and taking over the land. In Mali the desert has taken over about 220 miles in as few as 20 years. Deserts can be repelled, by developing tree-planting projects, having better agriculture and by managing the land better. However, governments still are reluctant to fund anti- desertification, despite horrific droughts that have occurred in recent years. O The Earth has been around for 4. Billion years. Scaling this time down to 46 years we have been around for 4 hours and our Industrial Revolution began just 1 minute ago. During this short time period we have ransacked the planet or ways to get fuels and raw materials, have been the cause of extinction of an unthinkable amount of plants and animals, and have multiplied our population to that of a plague. O Despite all of the damage we have caused the environment most of it is reversible. We can restore habitats and return species to them; clean rivers; renovate buildings; replenish the topsoil, replant forests.
However, these activities do not relieve the worst symptoms of the damage. We still have to fix the source of these problems, us and our vision that we must progress. [Pick] The Rainforest’s [Pick] CEO-Joke cards in the jungle? Many cheetahs! I Away can’t you play I Answer: Because there’s too o In Peninsular Malaysia, more tree species are found in 125 acres of Tropical Forest than in the entire North America. O In Peru a single bush may contain more ant species than in the British Isles. O A study has shown that there are possibly over 30 million species of insects dwelling in the canopies of tropical forests. 63,000 square miles of Rainforest’s are being destroyed each year. O Rainforest’s higher than 3,000 feet above sea level are called cloud forests. O Already over half of the world’s tropical forests have been lost. 0 Madagascar is the home to a rainforest’s here 60 percent of it’s 12,000 different plant species are unique to that island. O When you visit a pharmacist, one in every four purchases will have come from a tropical forest. O Medicine produced in tropical forests bring in commercially 30 billion dollars a year. Large areas of South and Central America are cleared and burned for cattle ranching. This is so that farmers can provide cheap beef to consumers in the West. Every year approximately four billion tons of carbon accumulates in the air each year, about 30% of this comes directly from the continued burning of the rainforest’s. O More than anything else, rainforest’s is destroyed by assent farmers. However, the responsibility for this lies largely with the governments who fail to promote land reform and sustainable agricultural practices as an alternative to forest clearance.
There is a species in the river Nile in Egypt that avoids its enemies by swimming with its black belly up and its white back down. O The arctic tern, a migrating bird is able to travel back and forth as much as 22000 miles in a course of a year. O The Amazon army ants raid nests of certain black ants and carry back to cocoons and larvae to their own homes. When the cocoons hatch, they will become the slaves of these army ants and do all their work. O The nest that an osprey is a huge and attractive one which is unhidden from sight and the bird adds new material each year to the same old nest.