Currently on earth...
- lightening strikes the earth 100 times a second
- 3 lb (1.5 kg) of glucose is produced each day by a large rain forest tree
- lichens grow .0001 inches a day - that's one inch in 100 years
- enough oil is produced each day by a copaiba tree in the Amazon to fill the
gas tanks of 120 cars
- there are 6.2 billion humans
- 3 billion humans eat rice as the main ingredient for their meals
- 1.2 billion humans lack safe drinking water
- 1.2 billion letters are written each day
- 150 million searches are conducted on Google each day
- 40 million humans are HIV positive; 5 million of them are in Africa
- 30 million humans are blind
- 15 million Indians see a movie each day
- 8 million Americans have cancer; 500,000 of them die each year
- 7 million new documents are added to the web each day
- 3 million humans cross international borders each day
- 3 million humans camp each under canvas in France each day
- 1.3 million humans work each day in the armed forces of the Russian Federation
- 1 million phone calls are made each day by humans working in the Pentagon, Washington DC, USA
- 450k humans play golf each day (k = 1000)
- 250k humans are currently in an airplane
- 220k humans are born each day; 150,000 die each day
- 47,000 humans are born in India each day;
- 32,000 humans are born in China each day;
- 7,000 humans are born in the USA each day.
- 170k humans visit national parks in America each day
- 170k humans enter France each day (#1 international destination)
- 140k new cars are made every day
- If all the cars and commercial vehicles were lined up, they would reach to the moon and back 3 times.
- 100k washing machines are made each day
- 60k humans work as taxi drivers in Mexico City each day
- 42k humans visit Disneyland in Japan each day
- 11k bunches of flowers are purchased each day in the United Kingdom
- 2k humans visit Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, each day.
- 1k books are published per day
- 100 Americans commit suicide each day
- 40 computer viruses are written and distributed each day
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A list of what has changed in the last 150 years...
- Information/Knowledge
- information overload
- knowledge about other countries
- level of literacy and numeracy
- widespread access to
information
- Medical/Health
- availability of abortion
- contraception
- disease
- genetic engineering
- invitro fertilisation
- medical technology
- prolonged life expectancies
- public health
- Lifestyle
- disposable products
- flushing toilets
- mass media
- sedentary lifestyles
- running water
- telephone / fax
- television
- movies
- processed foods
- sport
- Power/Money
- divide between developed and
developing countries
- corporate power
- economic rationalism
- rise of democratic, capitalist
societies
- international organisations,
e.g., United Nations
- marketing
-
Social/Psychological
- divorce
- environmental awareness
- fear of the future
- feminism
- pornography
- unemployment
- Spirituality/Religion
- new age spirituality
- lessened role of religion
- faith in religion usurped by
belief in science
-
Technology
- computers
- nuclear bomb
- digital technology
- electricity
- internet
- mechanised farming
- mining
- petrol/oil
- photography
- plastic
- realisation of earth's finite
resources
- satellite technology
- space flight
- warfare technology
- Transport/Travel
- motor vehicles
- possibility of living on other
planets
- powered flight
- age of sail gave way to age of
steam
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In the United States of America 100 Years Ago (1900 AD)...
- the average life expectancy was 47 years
- water usage per person was one sixth of current usage
- 14% of the homes had a bathtub
- most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo
- 8% of homes had a telephone
- there were 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved road
- the maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
- 95% of births took place at home.
- 30 people lived in Las Vegas
- 6 percent of Americans had graduated from high school
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Social Indicators
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War & conflict
- The Lancet estimates 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since March 2003 (out of 24-25 million Iraqis).
(Roberts, et al, 2004)
- UNICEF estimates there were 500,000 excess child Iraqi deaths since the Gulf War due to the food-for-oil sanctions.
(Kelly, 2004)
- This is an excess mortality rate of at least 2.5% (1 in 40) in Iraq over the last decade and would correspond to about 6 million excess Americans deaths in the same period out of ~300 million Americans).
- over 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 3 months in 1994 in the largest act of genocide since World War II
(Kelly, 2004, UNICEF)
- ~100,000 Iraqis have been killed since March 2003(out of 24-25 million).
(Roberts, et al, 2004, Lancet)
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World
Facts
