In the U.S., we throw away 50% of food produced…

Up to 50% of food in the United States is discarded every year. It’s simply thrown away! A study at the University of Arizona conducted several years ago looked at total food produced versus what actually makes it into our stomachs.  Along the food supply path, much of the food produced ends up in trash cans. Nationwide, the study says, household food waste alone adds up to $43 billion, making it a serious economic problem.

Source: Science a Go Go

Are you in the 50% of Americans who make New Year’s Resolutions?

If you are, you only have a slight chance of keeping them.

According to Real Science of Success, about 50 percent of Americans make New Year’s Eve resolutions but only 15 percent manage to keep them.

New Year’s Eve resolutions began around 4,000 B.C. when Babylonians began the new year by paying off debts and bringing back borrowed goods, according to an excerpt from “Psychological Foundations of Success: A Harvard-Trained Scientist Separates the Science of Success from Self-Help Snake Oil,” by Stephen Kraus, Ph.D.

According to the book, about 2000 years later, the Romans started the new year by assessing the old year and vowing to accomplish more in the coming year.

And we’ve been breaking these resolutions ever since.

Tip: try making resolutions for the month rather than for the year - you will have a higher chance of meeting them!

Holiday stats that will make you dizzy

Shoppers around the country say they are planning to spend an average of $431 for gifts this holiday season, down from $859 last year according to the twenty-third annual survey on holiday spending from the American Research Group, Inc. The overall average planned spending is down almost 50% from 2007 and it is the lowest level of planned spending recorded by the American Research Group since 1991.

While planned spending increases as Christmas approaches, a majority of shoppers are beginning the holiday shopping season saying they plan to cut their gift spending in half from a year ago. Shoppers saying they will pay full price for holiday gifts this year (14% of all shoppers) show the smallest decline in planned spending - $751 this year, down from $763 in 2007.

In telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,100 adults nationwide conducted November 10 through 13, 2008, the average planned spending of $431 for 2008 is down about 50% from planned spending in the 2007 survey.

Source: American Research Group, Inc.

Eating, drinking and shopping - what we are doing over Thanksgiving

Americans spend about 1.3 hours per day (on average) eating and drinking over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Other popular activities: traveling, watching TV and purchasing goods and services - which may not be a big surprise with the Friday after Thanksgiving always to biggest shopping day of the year.  With the economy in its current downward spiral, this statistic may change during Thanksgiving 2008.

How are you planning to spend your holiday?

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Losing the polar ice cap

The polar ice cap is now melting at the alarming rate of 9% per decade. Arctic ice thickness has almost halved since the 1960s.

Source: NASA

An Empire State Building’s worth of trash

Despite recycling an increasing portion of waste over the past two decades, the flow into the U.S.’s 1654 landfills still adds up to 133 million tons a year, accumulating the weight of the Empire State Building every day.

Learn more in this great article on how to reduce your waste at home.

Source: Popular Mechanics

Our forests are 4/5 of their original size

Half of the forests that originally covered 48% of the Earth’s land surface are gone. Only 1/5th of the Earth’s original forests remain pristine and undisturbed.

Interested in planting trees and getting rid of junk mail all at the same time?  Sign up for GreenDimes Premium - the sure way to combat both problems!

Source: NRDC

One Billion jack-o-lanterns

The United States produced 1 billion pounds of pumpkins in 2006.

Illinois led the country by producing 492 million pounds of the vined orange gourd. Pumpkin patches in California, Ohio and Pennsylvania also provided lots of pumpkins: Each state produced at least 100 million pounds. The value of all pumpkins produced by major pumpkin-producing states was $101 million.

That’s a lot of rotting pumpkins come November 1!

Source: PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org

Use your sun visor

Automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, and buses in the U.S. drove over 2.8 trillion miles in 2002 — comparable to driving to the sun and back 13,440 times.

Source: Energy Information Administration

$1 million spent every minute on energy

The U.S. uses nearly $1 million worth of energy every minute. Think we need alternative and renewable energy sources or what?

Source: Energy Information Administration

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