Did you know, that...

- Electricity production is the leading cause of industrial air pollution in the United States, and is responsible for 40 percent of the nation's carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change.

- At most, 35 percent of coal's energy in a power plant converts to electricity. The remaining two thirds is lost as waste heat, benefiting no one and often harming surrounding ecosystems.

- Cars and light trucks account for 40 percent of U.S. oil use and contribute about as much to climate change as the entire Japanese economy

- It takes around 17 trees to produce one ton of high-class paper. One issue of a popular daily newspaper requires 4000 trees.

- The Gutenberg Bible, the first and second drafts of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and the original works of Mark Twain were all printed on hemp-based papers.

- Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are an energy-saving alternative to incandescent bulbs - they produce the same amount of light, use one third of the electricity, and last up to ten times as long.

- Around 500 tons of water are required to manufacture a single car.

- An average European family uses about 1000 litres of water a week just to flush the toilet.

- It takes around 500 years for a plastic bottle to decompose.

- A single litre of used motor oil poured into a river or canal can poison about 1 million litres of water.

- Every year around 2 million birds and mammals die due to swallowing plastic thrash thrown away into the sea.

- For every kilometer driven by private vehicle, people consume two to three times as much fuel as they would by public transit.

- A cotton T-shirt blended with polyester can release approximately one quarter of its weight in air pollutants and 10 times its weight in carbon dioxide.