 Some bleak stuff in a writeup I did
Read below or tl;dr - Not all sources are given, I'll admit this anyhow...I posted this as a blog elsewhere so it's a copy paste from that.
Today Im going to label myself as a statistical social scientist, Im not a full blown scientist even though I can look the part with my lab coat and goggles =P What this means (My own definition) is that I am interested at looking at facts and figures and, put simply, trying to shock people with them and spawning positive change from doing so.
So here are some things to digest. Careful, chances are at least some of this stuff will come as a shock to you.
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According to sources the World total in US dollars during 2007 allocated for military expenditures was a whopping 1.2 trillion. Figures like 1.2 with word behind them never look (to me at least) as shocking as they do as the real numeric figure so lets look at it 1,200,000,000,000 Wow, thats a lot of dollars. Sometimes people will say things like wow thats a lot of $$$ with the more dollar signs the bigger the figure is they represent. In this case it would be wow thats a lot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$ !!!!
Now according to another source the World population was estimated at 6,602,224,175 in July 2007. Assuming this were correct, the money put into the world military could otherwise be used to give every person in the world about $181.75US. Now everyone Im sure is saying but the US dollar isnt worth as much as it used to be which is true but by simply using http://coinmill.com you could convert this $181.75US to the Iraqi Dinar and find out that they would get 219,500 Iraqi Dinars What this could buy you I dont know but it sure seems like a lot.
Moving on
In a letter from Bill and Melinda Gates (www.gatesfoundation.org) - Every day, more than 1,000 children die because they didnt get a 15-cent measles vaccine. Almost 3 billion people around the world live on less than $2 per day.
^^ That just blows my mind. One could say 1,000 children die every day to save $150 but thats a little naïve although, ultimately, holds a lot of truth. The vaccine needs people making it, transporting it and administering it, so maybe these children are worth more than 15c to people
In a document freely available at http://www.gunfacts.info/ has in its defense that 13 children are killed a day by guns being a myth states the following as facts:
[1] Over 13 teenagers die everyday in automobiles, seven behind the wheel (U.S)
[2] Four (4) children die each day in the U.S from parental neglect and abuse
[3] For contrast: 1,917 children die each day from malaria around the world and 15 men, women, and children per day are murdered by a convicted felon in government supervised parole/probation programs in the U.S.
>1,000 children are dying a day due to a lack of a measles vaccine whilst another 1,917 die as a result of malaria. Thats 2,917 children a day if they dont skew figures by having a measles/malaria combo. If these figures remain the same throughout the year (2008) without going down or up that is 1,067,622 dead children
around 366,000 of which from the one with a vaccine
The WHO (World Health Organization, NOT the band) has a fact sheet on cancer that says Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. From a total of 58 million deaths worldwide in 2005, cancer accounts for 7.6 million (or 13%) of all deaths. It also reveals 40% of cancer can be prevented (by a healthy diet, physical activity and not using tobacco).
^^ So thats saying, simply put, that 7,600,000 people died of cancer in 2005. 40% of these people being able to avoid it, or 3,040,000 put their lifestyle ahead of their actual life.
Okay so thats enough medical/death stuff, how about some technology figures?
These are some choice tidbits from Did you know? (http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com)
- If youre one in a million in China
There are 1,300 people just like you. In India, there are 1,100 people just like you.
- In the next 8 seconds
34 babies will be born. (India - 5, China - 4, U.S. -1]
- Todays 21-year-olds have Watched 20,000 hours of TV, Played 10,000 hours of video games, Talked 10,000 hours on the phone and theyve sent/received 250,000 emails or instant messages
- Number of Internet devices in 1984: 1,000 1992 1,000,000 2006 600,000,000
- If MySpace were a country
it would be the 8th largest in the world
- YouTube visitors since September 2005 [0 in 2005 to well over 100,000,000 today]
Just wow? I dont know about you but when I hear all this I wonder where it all comes from, all this stuff, what impact this all has on the environment
I suggest checking out this www.storyofstuff.com Its a 20 minute movie on how stuff (think iPods, laptops, cars, etc) is created, who makes it, who buys it and what happens to it when it is deemed obsolete.
Because Im assuming you only want the gist of it I will provide you with such luxury.
- In the past 3 decades (30 years to you and me) 1/3 of the planets natural resources base has been consumed
- The U.S. has <4% of its original forests left
- 40% of waterways in the U.S. have become undrinkable
- The U.S has 5% of the worlds population but consumes 30% of the worlds resources and creates 30% of the worlds waste.
- If everybody consumed at U.S. rates, we would need 3 to 5 planets.
- In the U.S., industry admits (yes only admits) to releasing over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals a year.
- Each person in the United States makes 4 1/2 pounds of garbage a day. That is twice what we each made thirty years ago.
- For every one garbage can of waste you put out on the curb, 70 garbage cans of waste were made upstream to make the junk in that one garbage can you put out on the curb.
To quote my university lecturer now
In 2003
11,000 cars were added to Chinas roads every day, a total of 4 million new cars in one year
by 2015, 150 million cars are expected in China 18 million more than
in the US in 1999
and if Chinese per-person paper consumption were to match the US level there would not be enough paper (or forests) available.
If the Greenland Ice Cap melts, sea level will rise 7 metres. What am I getting at?
...
Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, has a city population of almost 4.5 million, with an extended metropolitan population of over fourteen million. It is also 3 metres above sea level
Dhaka in Bangladesh is 5 metres above sea level and had an estimated population of 6,724,976 in 2006
IF, this happens where are these people going to go?
This is the end my friend.
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So what is your position on all this?
Some closing quotes if I may
Live simply, so others may simply live
-Gandhi
"Only when the last tree is cut;
Only when the last river is polluted;
Only when the last fish is caught;
Only then will they realize that you cannot eat money."
- Supposed Cree Proverb
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2008-04-10, 01:10
