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Name________________________
In 1970, Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin proclaimed April 22 to
be "Earth Day." More than 20 million people participated in
the first "Earth Day," which helped raise America's
awareness of environmental issues.
- Rainforests cover only a small part of the Earth but
they are home to more than half the world's plants and
animals. It is estimated that rainforests are being cut down
at the rate of 100 trees per minute. At this rate, how many
are cut down every 24 hours? Every week?
- The average American uses 7 trees a year in paper, wood,
and other products. If there are about 275 million
Americans, how many trees are used in a year?
- Each American throws away about 60 pounds of plastic
packaging each year. At this rate, about how many years
would it take one person to have thrown away a ton of
plastic?
- When you shower, you use 5 gallons of water every
minute. Most people take 5 minute showers. How many gallons
of water does a family of 4 use in a week (assuming they
each take a daily shower)? How much do they use in a month?
- A bath uses 50 gallons of water. How much water could a
person save in a week taking a shower instead of a bath?
- If each person took a 4 minute shower instead of a 5
minute shower, how much water could a single person save in
a year?
- A gallon of thrown away paint can seep into the Earth
and pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water. A spilled
gallon of gasoline can pollute 750,000 gallons of water.
What kind of damage would be done by just 3 gallons of paint
and 2 gallons of gasoline?
- It has been estimated that, on the average, each person
in the United States discards about 32 pounds of solid waste
each week. Some of the things that we dispose of can be
broken down into: 5.1 pounds of ashes and dirt; 3.5 pounds
of metal; 2.6 pounds of glass; 2.6 pounds of garbage; 2.2
pounds of wood, rags, and plastic. Make a bar graph to
display this information.
- Make a bar graph showing the annual household waste per
person in each country:
(in pounds per person):
United States - 1930
Canada - 1157
Italy - 542
Japan - 758
Sweden - 661
Australia - 1500
- Below are listed materials and millions of tons
generated in one year in the U.S. and how much of each is
recycled. Complete the table by filling in the % of each
material recycled.
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