The document presents several statistics related to environmental issues: 1) The organization Environmental Defense says that U.S. cars and trucks emit 314 metric tons of CO2 every year, equivalent to burning enough coal to fill a 50,000 mile long freight train. 2) On average, there are 27 oil spills per day somewhere in the world's waters, and the Exxon Valdez spill doesn't even make the top 30 largest spills. 3) American kids between 12-19 now spend over $100 per week on average, totaling $179 billion annually.

2. 10. The organization Environmental Defense
says that U.S. cars and trucks emit 314 metric
tons of CO2 every year, and -- in case you
were wondering -- that's equivalent to
burning as much coal as would fit in a 50,000
mile long freight train. Gosh, I'd hate to be
stuck at a railroad crossing waiting for that
one to pass.

3. 9. Remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill? Thank
God something like that hasn't happened
again. Sorry, but according to the National
Academy of Sciences, on average there are 27
oil spills every day somewhere in the waters
of the worlds, and the Valdez spill doesn't
even make the list of the top 30 all-time
largest.

4. 8. But now for some good news about oil: The
American Petroleum Institute (API) tells us that if
the government would lift those silly
environmental restrictions and allow the petrol
industry to drill everywhere, there's enough oil
right here in the U.S. to fuel 60 million cars and
trucks for 60 years! Unfortunately, API seems to
forget to mention that there are already more
than 250 million cars and trucks in the U.S.
Somehow "drill baby drill" doesn't sound like the
lifesaver API claims it is when you know all the
fossil fuel facts.

5. 7. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson's character in A Few
Good Men, "Credit cards? You can't handle the credit
cards!" Apparently that's true for most Americans.
BankRate.com says that people who pay for fast food
using a credit card spend approximately 50% more
than those who buy their burgers with cash. And the
average purchase on a credit card ends up costing
112% more (that's right, more than double) because
most people fail to pay off their cards monthly. So
according to Bankrate, a $1,000 charge on an
average card will take almost 22 years to pay, and will
cost more than $2,300 in interest ($3,300 total) -- if
only 2% minimum payments are made.

6. 6. Man, have weekly allowances ever increased
since I was a kid. According to an Associated
Press article, American kids between the ages
of 12 and 19 now spend about $179 billion
annually. That translates into more than $100
per teen per week.

7. 5. Maybe kids these days are raking in the big
bucks by mowing neighborhood lawns.
According to the U.S. EPA, Americans spend
$25 billion a year on lawn care. Residential
lawns and gardens are doused with 80 million
pounds of chemical pesticides and 70 million
tons of fertilizers annually.

8. 4. I love that Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi.
You know, the one with the lyrics, "They
paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Every year in the U.S. we pave over roughly
1.3 million acres of formerly unpaved land,
according to a Carrying Capacity Network
conference held in Washington, DC. Since
that's almost twice the size of the Hawaiian
Islands, I guess Joni actually understated the
problem.

9. 3. According to the Harvard Center of Risk
Analysis, more than 2,500 deaths and
330,000+ injuries every year in the U.S. are
caused by the use of cell phones (both
handheld and hands-free phones) while
driving. Yet only six states prohibit the use of
cell phones while driving, and that only
applies to hand-held phones; no state
currently prohibits the use of hands-free
phones.

10. 2. World hunger stinks, but maybe it doesn't
have to. According to the website
globalissues.org, it would cost about $13
billion annually to satisfy the world's basic
sanitation and food requirements. As they
point out, that's roughly equivalent to what
Americans and Europeans spend on perfume
and cologne every year. Can't we all agree
that the world would smell a lot better if no
one wore perfume or cologne, but no one was
starving to death either?

11. 1. Oh well, I'm sure the next generation will be
more ecologically and economically savvy
than we are. Or maybe not: According to the
Children in Nature website, "Children can
identify up to 1,000 corporate logos, but
fewer than 10 plants or animals native to
their backyards."

12. Happy Hours with
Your Teachers
everyone, and keep
those shocking eco
facts coming.

13. Thank you