I've always been fascinated with figures, because they can be a life-changer and always bring some food for thought. That's why I was struck by a website I discovered just recently: www.worldometers.info - a site for world statistics updated in real time. At first I though it is a joke, but it turns out it is a project, which involves many institutions and many people. With the help of algorithms and data from the "most reputable organizations and statistical offices in the world", the website provides "just in time" statistics in 32 languages about current world population, number of births and deaths this year, health care, education and military expenditure for the year and many others.
The reason for posting this info on my green blog is the figures in the environmental, food and energy sections of the site. We all know that hundreds of hectares of forests are cut each year, but when you see the figure 1 555 952 hectares of cut forest for THIS YEAR ONLY until now 20.02.2011 it really hits you. I was also shocked by the fact that there are more overweight and obese people in the world than undernourished, or that there are exactly 15 628 days until the end of oil. Well, enough said. Check the website or the statistics copied below for yourselves and make your own daily changes and global conclusions.
 Environment | ||
1,556,239 | Forest loss this year (hectares) | |
829,333 | Arable land lost due to soil erosion this year (hectares) | |
3,085,490,576 | Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions this year, in tons | |
14,553178439 | Current average temperature (Celsius) | |
2,048,289 | Desertification this year (hectares) | |
19,176 | Species that have gone extinct this year | |
1,353,185 | Toxic chemicals released by industries into our air, land, and water this year (tons) | |
129,805,777 | Kilometers Earth has traveled in space within our Solar System this year | |
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