Notes

Forests

• Over the past 50 years more than ½ of world’s rainforests have been destroyed
• About 1% is being cut down each year (size of UK)
• 20% of greenhouse gases come from burning rainforests
• At the current rate we would completely eradicate all rainforests by 2050

Water

• 75% of Earth’s surface is covered by water, but only 1% by fresh water
• Since 1950 the global use of water has more than tripled and is doubling every 20 years
• Worldwide dam construction has displaced   40 – 80 million people
• Currently more than 1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water

Soil

• It takes 1000 years to produce 2.5cm topsoil
• We lose more than half a ton of topsoil every year per person
• For every ton of grain produced, 20 tons of soil are lost
• The biggest causes are overgrazing and monoculture crops

Waste

• Americans spend more on garbage bags than the combined GDP of 90% of developing countries
• For every garbage can placed at the curb, 71 garbage cans of waste are created in the extractive and industrial processes used to convert raw material into finished product

Oil

• Peak oil estimated to occur circa 2012 (IEA) – peak of all fossil fuels shortly after
• Price signals 10 years too late to enable transition to other renewable sources
• Peak uranium pre-2050 at current use levels

CO2

• Current level is 383 parts per million – was 280 before Industrial Revolution – 37% increase.  Will soon be 100% increase.  Methane has already increased by 150%
• Taupo = largest volcanic event on earch in last 5000 years = 65M tonnes of rock, dust and gases.  Currently we use 4629M tonnes of coal and 3847M tonnes of oil annually.  This is 130 times the impact of Taupo.  With gas total = about 6 billion tonnes of fossil fuels extracted p.a. = 1 tonne per person on the planet.