Facts About Earth Day - strangefacts

• Annually, April 22 is a day set aside to honor the Earth. But every day is Earth Day, and some of the things that will happen 365 times in a year are listed below

• In 1969, Nelson, considered one of the leaders of the modern environmental movement, developed the idea for Earth Day after being inspired by the anti-Vietnam War "teach-ins" that were taking place on college campuses around the United States

• According to Nelson, he envisioned a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda."

• Nelson announced the Earth Day concept at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969 and invited the entire nation to get involved

• A highlight of the United Nations' Earth Day celebration in New York City is the ringing of the Peace Bell, a gift from Japan, at the exact moment of the vernal equinox

• Earth Day Networks estimates that 500 million people from 4,500 organizations in 180 countries will participate in Earth Day events during the month of April

• Earth Day is big with schools. On many school calendars, it is the third most activity-inspiring holiday, after Christmas and Halloween

• Companies have even gotten into Earth Day. Last year, office supply store Staples introduced office paper made entirely without new trees

• As part of the celebration, some communities make Earth Day a "Car-Free Day"

• Earth will travel 1.6 million miles in its annual journey around the Sun, the 4.6-billionth such round-trip. It will rotate about its axis exactly once

Facts About Meteor Crater - strangefacts

• Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater located approximately 43 miles (69 km) east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States

• Because the US Department of the Interior Division of Names commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of “Meteor Crater” from the nearby post office named Meteor

• Middlesboro is the only city in the United States built within a meteor crater

• The crater was created about 50,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch when the local climate on the Colorado Plateau was much cooler and damper

• At the time, the area was an open grassland dotted with woodlands inhabited by woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, and camels

• It was probably not inhabited by humans; the earliest confirmed record of human habitation in the Americas dates from long after this impact

• The object that excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 meters (54 yards) across, which impacted the plain at a speed of several kilometers per second

• Meteor Crater was originally thought to be a volcanic crater, since there were other volcanic craters, including the still-active Sunset Crater, in the region

• However, in the 1890s, mineralogists discovered iron fragments in the crater. This led geologists to suggest that the crater was caused by a meteor crash

• Daniel Barringer (1860-1929), a Philadelphia mining engineer who explored the site in 1903, was convinced the meteorite was buried beneath the crater. He purchased the land and, in 1906, began drilling

Facts About Volcanoes - strangefacts

• The biggest volcano in the world is the Mauna Loa, in Hawaii. It rises off of the seafloor to 13,000 feet above sea level or about 29,000 feet above the seafloor

• Most volcanoes are 10,000 to 100,000 years old

• There are at least 1,500 active volcanoes around the world

• Indonesia has the most volcanoes about more then 200 alive

• Common volcanic gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen sulfide

• Volcanic eruptions can send ash high into the air, over 30km (17 miles) above the Earth’s surface

• The lower 48 states in the U.S. have about 40 volcanoes

• Scientists has estimated the ocean contains 10,000 volcanoes

• The oldest volcano is the Etna at 350,000 years old

• About 500 million people live close to active volcanoes
  

Facts About Pollution - strangefacts

• Indoor pollution is 10 times more toxic than outdoor pollution

• Corn is used to produce fuel alcohol. Fuel alcohol makes gasoline burn cleaner, reducing air pollution, and it doesn't pollute the water

• 80 percent of all pollution in seas and oceans comes from land-based activities

• Each average-sized tree provides an estimated $7 savings in annual environmental benefits, including energy conservation and reduced pollution

• For every mile driven a motorcycle produces 10 to 20 times more pollution than a new car

• During winter months, 49 percent of soot and other particle pollution in Sacramento is caused by burning wood in fireplaces and wood stoves

• The World Bank reported in 2002 that pollution causes 2.42 billion dollars worth of damage to the Egyptian environment annually - equaling about 5 percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product

• The risk of cancer from breathing diesel exhaust is about ten times more than ingesting all other toxic air pollutants combined, with diesel emissions contributing to over 70% of the cancer risk from air pollution in the USA

• During the 1990s, carbon dioxide emissions increased approximately 1.3% each year. But since 2000, the rate has increased to 3.3% per year, with an estimated annual global CO2 emissions increase of 35% from 1990 to 2006

• A recent study from Toronto Public Health estimates over 440 deaths a year in the Canadian city can be directly attributed to traffic emissions

• According to the US-EPA, emissions from power plants contribute to over 2,800 lung cancer deaths and 38,200 heart attacks annually in the US

Facts About Population - strangefacts

• In Uganda half the population is under 15

• The world’s population has been increased 3.1 billion in last 40 years

• Approximately one-third of the population can't snap their fingers!

• The minority population of Los Angeles County, California (7,000,000 people) is larger than the total population of 38 states

• Loving County, Texas is the emptiest county in the United States. The population in 2004 was 52 people. Yet it still received $30,000 in anti-terrorism funds from Homeland Security

                                                     

• In 2030, almost half of the United States' population growth will be in three states: California, Florida and Texas.

• The world population of chickens is about equal to the number of people

• The world's population grows by 100 million each year. Some 950 million people in the world are malnourished

• 5% of the world population lives in the US but 22% of the world's prisons population are held in the US

• In 1800 on 50 cities on earth had a population of more than 100,000

• Medical reports show that about 18% of the population are prone to sleepwalking

Facts About Grasslands - strangefacts

• The animals that live in temperate grasslands have adapted to the dry, windy conditions

• The majority of grasslands are found around the tropics and the Grasslands cover one-fifth of the land on Earth

• Grassland areas have two seasons: a growing season and a dormant season. During the dormant season, no grass can grow because it is too cold

• Natural grasslands are; the savannahs of Africa, the North American prairies, and in southern USSR-the dry steppes

• Semi-natural grasslands are where the forest has been cleared and grazing, cutting or burning maintains the grass cover. Tending to be more productive most South and South-East Asian grasslands are semi-natural grasslands.

• The temperate grassland soil contains a lot of organic material (more than the tropical).

• Grasses in tropical grasslands tend to grow taller and faster than grasses in cooler regions

• Tropical grasslands are regions in the tropics where there is not enough rain half the year for trees to grow

• When rainy season arrives, many grasslands become coated with flowers, some of which can survive well into winter with the help of underground storage organs and thick stem bases

• Most tropical grasslands are scattered with bushes, shrubs and trees. In Africa, hardy broad-leaved trees such as curatella and byrsonima are typical

• Temperate grasslands, which average between 10 and 30 inches (25 and 75 centimeters) of rain per year, have shorter grasses, sometimes just a few millimeters

• No other habitat is as agriculturally useful to humans as grasslands. Soils tend to be deep and fertile, perfect for cropland or pastures