A Tangible Heritage for our Children

We represent 5% of the world’s population
but generate 30% of the world’s garbage
in a lifetime, the average American will personally
throw away 600 times his or her body weight
a legacy of 90, 000 pounds of
trash at the end of their lifetime.

We throw away enough garbage everyday
to fill 63, 000 garbage trucks, which if
lined up end to end for an entire year
would stretch half way to the moon.
half could be recycled, which is enough to fill a
football stadium from top to bottom everyday.

Enough discharged aluminum to rebuild the entire
commercial air fleet every three months
enough steel to reconstruct Manhattan
enough wood to heat 5 million homes for 200 years.
waste disposal costs exceed $100 billion annually.

3.5 billion pounds of carpet landfilled
3.3 trillion pounds of CO2 gas emitted
into the atmosphere, 19 billion pounds of
polystyrene peanuts, 28 billion pounds of food
discarded, 360 billion pounds of organic
and inorganic chemicals used for manufacturing
710 billion pounds of hazardous waste
3.7 trillion pounds of construction debris
such competitiveness in producing garbage.

Fortunately we can't take it with us
leaving a worthy heritage for the next generation
children, grandchildren and happiest offspring.