● Chance that an employee in the world today works in a place that has “unhealthy and unsafe conditions”: 1 in 2
● Number of workers who die globally each year from workplace risks and accidents: 1,900,000
● Percentage of energy in Denmark produced by wind turbines: 19
● Percentage of energy in Canada produced by wind turbines: 0.8
● Number of new jobs created in Canada by 2025 if wind power usage grew to 20% of all energy production: 55,000
● Estimated distance, in kilometres, that an apple travels before being purchased by a U.S. consumer: 2,778
● Number of workers in a nuclear plant needed to create 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity: 100
● Number of workers on a wind farm needed to create 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity: 248
● Percentage of Canadians who believe that technology is “taking time away” from family and friends: 63
● Percentage of the world’s oxygen supply produced in the Amazon Rainforest: 20
● If current trends hold, percentage of the Amazon Rainforest that will be destroyed by the year 2028: 40
● Number of U.S. workers currently engaged in steel production: 240,000
● Number currently engaged in rebuilding and re-manufacturing: 480,000
● Percentage change in real global food prices from 1974 to 2005: –75
● Percentage change from January 2005 to June 2008: +86
● Number of collective agreements currently in existence throughout the global economy: 2,500,000
● Factor by which the consumption of fossil fuels is exceeding their formation on earth: 100,000
● Months in which a Canadian baby will use as many resources as a person in the Global South does during their entire life: 6
● Number of manufacturing jobs lost in Canada since 2002: 350,000
● Percentage of all 2007 U.S. light vehicles that the Environmental Protection Agency categorized as “truly fuel-efficient”: 1.2
● Average workweek hours for an employee in South Korea: 45
● Average workweek hours for an employee in the Netherlands: 26.5
● Chance that a Canadian employee feels they “don’t always fit in well with the culture” at their workplace: 1 in 2
● Chance that they feel “dragged down by a negative atmosphere at work”: 1 in 3
● Tonnes of Canadian CO2 emissions that could be reduced each year by maintaining proper car tire pressure: 1,500,000
● Percentage of Americans who believe in angels: 81
● Percentage of Americans who believe that global warming will pose a serious threat during their lifetime: 40
● Number of people who died from SARS in 2002 and 2003: 813
● Estimated number of people who died in Europe from the heat wave of August 2003: 35,000
● Percentage of species that have existed on earth over the past 3.7 billion years that are now extinct: 99.9
● Percentage of global aluminum production that is based on recycled scrap: 25
● Estimated number of scrap collector cooperatives operating in Brazil: 500
● Estimated number of scrap collectors in China: 10,000,000
● Amount that the average Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) owner in Canada spends each year on driving: $9,000
● Chance that an illness worldwide is produced by “environmental causes”: 1 in 4
● Number of deaths that result from these illnesses each year: 13 million
● Economic cost of environmental damage in the 21st Century from a three degree Celsius increase in temperature: $22 trillion
● Number of jobs that will be created between now and 2030 retrofitting European Union residential buildings: 2,600,000
● Percentage change in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions under the Vice-Presidency of Al Gore from 1993 to 2001: +8.8
● Percentage change in Canadian greenhouse gas emissions by 2005, as promised in the Liberal Party’s 1993 Red Book: –20
● Percentage change in Canadian greenhouse gas emissions between 1993 and 2005: +20
Our Times Tally, inspired by Harpers Index (see www.harpers.org), is compiled by freelance writer Sean Cain.