Thursday, August 26, 2010

One Step Forward, Two Steps Towards Extinction


We’re finally making some  real advances against that awful malarial plague in africa
We are losing 50 species per day to this man-made mass extinction of ours

Infant mortality is being reduced even in the very poorest areas
50 million acres of rain forest are destroyed each and every year

china and India are bootstrapping their way out of abject poverty
80000 porpoises and 200000 albatross are killed each year as useless bycatch

the air in the LA basin is dramatically cleaner than in the 70s
china is home to 16 of the worlds 20 most polluted urban areas

smallpox and polio have been virtually eliminated worldwide
the average annual temperature in Alaska is increasing 1˚ per decade

food costs have decreased relative to income for years in the USA
the world's grasslands are overgrazed by mans animals by a factor of nearly 2

experts predict human population will stabilize at around 9 billion inside of 50 years
researchers say the earth could sustain 1-2 billion developed world inhabitants

great progress has been made in bilingual education in our schools
35% of latinos drop out of high school even as newly-arrived illegales take away their bad jobs

consumers are now much more aware of the health benefits of eating seafood
global tuna populations have declined by over 70% and are now not naturally sustainable

we are now sure of the vital role that marshes play as fish nurseries and in water purification
the US alone destroyed 117000 acres of wetlands every single year from 1985 to 1995

the early plastics industry had to convince people to throw away their cups
nowadays every year 380 billion plastic bags are discarded just in the USA

In 25 years, people worldwide living on less than a dollar a day fell by half a billion
Today, some 1.1 billion people must live on less than one US dollar for an entire day

2002 U.S. health spending was almost 2.5 times that of the median OECD country
20% of US citizens have no health insurance and their numbers increase every day

Military spending only amounts to about 2.5% of world GDP
US military outlays represent 48% of the whole world’s total

America proudly spends almost $9000 per year per student on education
So-called 3rd world Costa Rica has a higher literacy rate than the undeveloping United States

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