Trousersnake
2008-04-10, 01:10
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 I’m going to label myself as a statistical social scientist, I’m 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 let’s look at it 1,200,000,000,000 – Wow, that’s a lot of dollars. Sometimes people will say things like ‘wow that’s a lot of $$$’ with the more dollar signs the bigger the figure is they represent. In this case it would be “wow that’s a lot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$ !!!!”
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 I’m sure is saying ‘but the US dollar isn’t 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 don’t 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 didn’t 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 that’s 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. That’s 2,917 children a day if they don’t 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 that’s 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 that’s enough medical/death stuff, how about some technology figures?
These are some choice tidbits from ‘Did you know?’ (http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com)
- If you’re 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]
- Today’s 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 they’ve 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 don’t 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 – It’s 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 I’m 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 world’s population but consumes 30% of the world’s resources and creates 30% of the world’s 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 China’s 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.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
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
Today I’m going to label myself as a statistical social scientist, I’m 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.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
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 let’s look at it 1,200,000,000,000 – Wow, that’s a lot of dollars. Sometimes people will say things like ‘wow that’s a lot of $$$’ with the more dollar signs the bigger the figure is they represent. In this case it would be “wow that’s 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 I’m sure is saying ‘but the US dollar isn’t 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 don’t 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 didn’t 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 that’s 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. That’s 2,917 children a day if they don’t 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 that’s 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 that’s enough medical/death stuff, how about some technology figures?
These are some choice tidbits from ‘Did you know?’ (http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com)
- If you’re 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]
- Today’s 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 they’ve 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 don’t 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 – It’s 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 I’m 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 world’s population but consumes 30% of the world’s resources and creates 30% of the world’s 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 China’s 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.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
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