By The Numbers

Amber Beard contributed to this column.

100 million

Pounds of pesticides applied to American gardens annually

60

Billion tons, the amount of natural resources extracted each year worldwide

50

Percent more resources than was extracted 30 years ago

184

Pounds of resources used by the average American each day

112

Empire State Buildings, the equivalent of what humans extract from the Earth each day

31

Percent, the increase in global wind power in 2009

35,000

Megawatts of wind power produced in the U.S. in 2009

130,000

Megawatts of energy China expects to produce with wind power annually by the end of the next decade

$12

The indirect cost total of a gallon of gas (including oil industry tax breaks and subsidies, oil supply protection, treatment of auto exhaust-related respiratory illness, climate change)

$4

Average gas tax in Italy, France, Germany, and the UK

50

Cents, the gas tax in the U.S.

$2 billion

The amount of tax revenue Sweden shifted from income taxes to taxes on environmentally destructive activities from 2001 to 2006

90

Percent of the Aral Sea that has dried up since 1980

3.4

Million, the number of “extreme commuters” (those who commute more than an hour-and-a-half to work and back) in the U.S.

40

Percent higher salary an extreme commuter must make to be as satisfied as a non-commuter, according to a study by economists Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer

70

Percent of all water used in the United States that is used by farms

19

Percent of all electricity used in California that goes to the pumping, treating, transporting and delivering of water

Sources: Earth Policy Institute; Business Week; Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About It