Issue #1 – In 2006, China was consuming 6.4 million barrels of petroleum per day and the average American was consuming 15 times as much as the average Chinese. Now Chinese are consuming 9.9 million barrels per day, an increase of nearly 55 percent. America’s daily consumption has actually dropped to under 19 million barrels. So now the average American consumes only 8 times as much petroleum as the average Chinese.
Issue #2 – Container ships continue to use bunker fuel, considered the dirtiest and least efficient of all petroleum fuels, and it has been calculated that just 15 of the largest container ships are responsible for more sulfur pollution than all of the world’s cars combined. There are more than 100,000 container ships now in operation and it has been calculated that over 64,000 deaths each year can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution from these ships.
Issue #3 – About 1 in 9 people on the planet lack access to clean water. The average Chinese uses 416,000 liters of water per year. The average American uses 1,550,000 liters per year, about 3.7 times more than the average Chinese. If Americans cut water consumption in half, the other half would be enough to supply every human on the planet with about 93 liters of water every day.
Issue #4 – The world’s adults are now 16.5 million tons overweight, an amount equivalent to that of 137,500 blue whales – more than 10 times the actual number of the largest mammal on earth. America’s population is now 314 million people; but since the average adult is 18 kilograms overweight, the country actually has the equivalent of 406 million people of normal weight.
Issue #5 – While new passenger cars imported into the U.S. have gained about 5.6 miles per gallon in fuel efficiency over the past 6 years, domestically produced cars have only gained about 2.2 miles per gallon. Since 1980, all passenger cars sold in the U.S. have only gained about 9.5 miles per gallon.
Issue #6 – The top 2 killers in the U.S. are coronary heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The top 2 killers in China are stroke and lung disease. The United States ranks 37th on the WHO’s list of best health care systems while France ranks 1st. This is despite the fact that the average American spends $7,290 (about 15.2% of GDP) per year on health care while the average French national spends about $3,601 (about 11.2% of GDP) per year. Meanwhile, Chinese spend an average of about $265 per person (about 4.3% of GDP) and rank 144th in quality of health care.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/china-oil-cnpc-idUSL4E8D914I20120209
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-16-ships-create-pollution-cars-world.html
http://www.gizmag.com/shipping-pollution/11526/
http://chartsbin.com/view/1455
http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/18/weight-of-the-world-globally-adults-are-overweight-by-16-5-million-tons/
http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_ranking_of_health_systems
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-health-rankings
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/News/News-Releases/2010/Jun/US-Ranks-Last-Among-Seven-Countries.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_(PPP)_per_capita
http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2011/04/26/cost-of-health-care-by-country-national-geographic/
Issue #2 – Container ships continue to use bunker fuel, considered the dirtiest and least efficient of all petroleum fuels, and it has been calculated that just 15 of the largest container ships are responsible for more sulfur pollution than all of the world’s cars combined. There are more than 100,000 container ships now in operation and it has been calculated that over 64,000 deaths each year can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution from these ships.
Issue #3 – About 1 in 9 people on the planet lack access to clean water. The average Chinese uses 416,000 liters of water per year. The average American uses 1,550,000 liters per year, about 3.7 times more than the average Chinese. If Americans cut water consumption in half, the other half would be enough to supply every human on the planet with about 93 liters of water every day.
Issue #4 – The world’s adults are now 16.5 million tons overweight, an amount equivalent to that of 137,500 blue whales – more than 10 times the actual number of the largest mammal on earth. America’s population is now 314 million people; but since the average adult is 18 kilograms overweight, the country actually has the equivalent of 406 million people of normal weight.
Issue #5 – While new passenger cars imported into the U.S. have gained about 5.6 miles per gallon in fuel efficiency over the past 6 years, domestically produced cars have only gained about 2.2 miles per gallon. Since 1980, all passenger cars sold in the U.S. have only gained about 9.5 miles per gallon.
Issue #6 – The top 2 killers in the U.S. are coronary heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The top 2 killers in China are stroke and lung disease. The United States ranks 37th on the WHO’s list of best health care systems while France ranks 1st. This is despite the fact that the average American spends $7,290 (about 15.2% of GDP) per year on health care while the average French national spends about $3,601 (about 11.2% of GDP) per year. Meanwhile, Chinese spend an average of about $265 per person (about 4.3% of GDP) and rank 144th in quality of health care.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/china-oil-cnpc-idUSL4E8D914I20120209
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-16-ships-create-pollution-cars-world.html
http://www.gizmag.com/shipping-pollution/11526/
http://chartsbin.com/view/1455
http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/18/weight-of-the-world-globally-adults-are-overweight-by-16-5-million-tons/
http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_ranking_of_health_systems
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-health-rankings
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/News/News-Releases/2010/Jun/US-Ranks-Last-Among-Seven-Countries.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_(PPP)_per_capita
http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2011/04/26/cost-of-health-care-by-country-national-geographic/
