Biodiversity factors. (Matters of Scale).

Biodiversity Factors


Time it takes to grow 1 inch of soil           1,000 YEARS

Time it has taken to erode and wash away one-     40 YEARS
third of the topsoil in the United States

Number of fish caught by a single Norwegian    120 MILLION
boat in 1986

Number of people in Norway                       4 MILLION

Kilograms of toxic chemicals that would be       2 MILLION
removed from the environment each year if
U.S. homeowners reduced their use of
pesticides by 10 percent

Kilograms of toxic chemicals that would be     700 MILLION
removed from the environment each year if
U.S. manufacturing firms reduced their
releases by 10 percent

Number of black rhinos in Africa in the 1960s      100,000

Number of black rhinos in Africa now                 2,500

Number of pieces of live coral broken off          350,000
from reefs (which are habitat to 1 million
species) and purchased by Americans each year

Number of pieces purchased by the rest of the       90,000
world each year

Number of Boeing 747 airplanes that could fit            2
on the ground in New York's Yankee Stadium

Number of Boeing 747s that could fit inside             12
the largest size of trawl net used to catch
ocean fish by commercial "factory ships"

SOURCES: "Biodiversity 911: Saving Life on Earth," a traveling exhibit
of the World Wildlife Fund, and Worldwatch Institute.