Our Times Tally, Volume 3, Environmental Edition – March 2009

● 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.

SOURCES: 1 in 2, 1,900,000 – International Labour Organization (2005); 19 – Global Wind Energy Council; 0.8, 55,000 – Canadian Wind Energy Association; 2,778 – Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (July 2003); 100, 248 – Canadian Labour Congress (What are Green Jobs?); 63 – Ipsos Reid (Sep 22, 2008); 20, 40 – National Geographic (January 2007); 240,000, 480,000 – United Nations Environment Programme; – 75, +86 – World Bank (A Note on Rising Food Prices); 2,500,000 – United Nations Environmental Programme (Labour and the Environment: A Natural Synergy); 100,000 – www.centreforenergy.com; 6 – Recycling Council of Ontario; 350,000 – Canadian Auto Workers; 1.2 – Environmental Protection Agency; 45, 26.5 – Economist Magazine (April 16, 2008); 1 in 2, 1 in 3 – Ipsos Reid (Oct 20, 2008); 1,500,000 – Natural Resources Canada (Office of Energy Efficiency); 81 – Associated Press Poll (December 2006); 40 – Gallup Poll (March 2008); 813 – World Health Organization; 35,000 – Earth Policy Institute (Washington, DC); 99.9 – Mark Newman (Cornell University); 25, 500 – United Nations (Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low Carbon World); 10,000,000 – Recyclingbizz.com (July 16, 2007); $9,000 – Canadian Automobile Association; 1 in 4, 13 million – World Health Organization (2006); $22 trillion – Dr. William Nordhaus (Yale University); 2,600,000 – Worldwatch Institute (Working for People and the Environment); 8.8 – Environmental Protection Agency (April 2006); -20, +20 – Scott Piatkowski (rabble.ca, April 21, 2005).