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Earth Day 2022: Handout References - 2022

Invest in Our Planet

Climate and Sustainability "Fun" Facts

Check out these excerpts below to learn more about how humans interact with the Earth!

(1) “If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in land􀄕 lls.  at amount is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.”
(2) Planting billions of trees across the world is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis.
(3) “In total, the fashion industry is responsible for over 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions.”
(4) “It's estimated that only about 9% of plastic waste generated in the U.S. is recycled..."
(5) 6 WPI Project Centers are in member-cities of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA), a collaboration of leading global cities working to achieve carbon neutrality in the next 10-20 years.
(6) “By 2050, ocean plastic will outweigh all of the ocean’s fish.”
(7) “Indigenous peoples manage or have rights over about 40 percent of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes..."
(8) "Over 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is happening and largely caused by humans.
(9) Plogging
(10) "One third of the world’s food supply relies on bees."
(11) Plant Blindness
(12) Regenerative Agriculture...."The United States is losing soil 10 times faster than it’s replenished as a result of overfarming...."
(15) Mass species extinction
(16) Lifecycle of a plastic Bag