"A child born in a wealthy country is likely to consume, waste, and pollute more in his lifetime tha

1
"Every generation faces a challenge. In the
1930s, it was the creation of Social
Security. In the 1960s, it was putting a man on
the moon. In the 1980s, it was ending the Cold
War. -Eileen Clausen, Pew Center on
Global Climate Change
Our generation's challenge will be addressing
global climate change while sustaining a growing
global economy."
2
"If America fails to address climate change,
we'll be jeopardizing all of our hard-fought
conservation gains and putting thousands of local
jobs at risk. Fortunately with our history of
innovation and growing clean energy economy,
Washington is well-poised to lead the way
towards solving this difficult challenge."
-Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
3
Climate Change" is a general term used when
referring to a wide variety of effects brought
about by human activities. "Global Warming,
one aspect of climate change, is an increase in
the average temperature of the Earth's lower
atmosphere.
Since the Industrial Revolution, that temperature
has gone up by an average of 1 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Source Environmental Protection Agency, 2002
Source http//green.yahoo.com/index.php?qnode/17
8
4
Average annual temperatures in the Pacific
Northwest continue to rise, warming at a rate
substantially greater than the global warming
trend. Since 1950, winter temperatures have
warmed by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Source http//www.pscleanair.org
5
Several U.S. states may lose their official
birds as they head for cooler climates
including the Baltimore oriole of Maryland, the
black-capped chickadee of Massachusetts, and the
American goldfinch of Iowa.
Source http//www.nature.org/initiatives/climate
change/issues/art19623.html
6
"Ignoring climate change will be the most costly
of all possible choices, for us and our
children. -Peter Ewins, British Meteorological
Office
7

• The World Health Organization estimates that
  climate change is already responsible for an
  estimated 150,000 deaths per year

Source http//www.who.int/globalchange/news/fscli
mandhealth/en/
8
"A child born in a wealthy country is likely to
consume, waste, and pollute more in his lifetime
than 50 children born in developing nations. It
is dawning on us at last that the life of our
world is as vulnerable as the children we
raise." -George Carey, Archbishop of
Canterbury, UK
9

• Every year the U.S generates over 240 million
  tons of Municipal Solid Waste.
• Washington state contributed approximately 18
  million tons of waste in 2005.

Source PSE Waste Fact Sheet
10

• By recycling all of its office paper waste for
  one year, a building of 7,000 workers could
  reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to
  taking about 370 cars off the road that year.

Source Environmental Protection Agency, Climate
Change and Waste Reducing Waste Can Make a
Difference, EPA 530-E-03-002, 2002
11
"You have 4000 universities in the country
spending 190 billion on goods and services
annually. Thats greater than the GDP of all but
20 nations. If schools were practicing
renewable energy and buying environmentally sound
products, it would have a huge impact." -Anthony
Cortese, President, Second Nature
12
Recycled aluminum saves 95 energy vs. virgin
aluminum recycling of one aluminum can saves
enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours
Source http//www.earth911.org/master.asp?sliba
energy/EnergyFacts.html
13
Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate of up to 9
percent per decade. Arctic summers could be
ice-free by mid-century, possibly driving polar
bears to extinction within 100 years
Source http//www.climatetrust.org/about_offsets_
facts.php
14

• Nearly every glacier in the Cascades and
  Olympics has retreated during the past 50-150
  years in response to warming

Source http//www.psat.wa.gov/Publications/climat
e_change2005/climate_home.htm
15

• In 2004 alone, diesel pollution will have caused
  an estimated 3,000 premature deaths in California
  greater than the average 2,300 annual homicides
  in the state.

http//www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/
deer_2004/session6/2004_deer_anair.pdf
16
School bus fleets are one of the largest emitters
of carbon dioxide in the U.S.
Children are particularly vulnerable to air
pollution because they breathe faster than
adults.
Today asthma is the third leading cause of
hospitalization for children under the age of 15.
Source http//www.pscleanair.org
17
"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not
despair for the future of the human race."-H.G.
Wells
18
If everyone left their car at home one day per
week and rode the bus or carpooled, the result
would be a 20 percent reduction in commuter
traffic

19
"The sunshine that strikes American roads each
year contains more energy than all the fossil
fuels used by the entire world."- Denis Hayes,
International Chair of Earth Day
20

• If everyone in North America cooked exclusively
  with a microwave rather then an electric oven,
  for a year, we'd save as much energy as the
  entire continent of Africa consumes during that
  same time.

Source Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen,
authors of The Green Book
21

• The U.S. uses nearly 1 million worth of energy
  every minute.

Source Energy Information Administration
22
Energy savings can reach 30 percent or more when
interactive efforts of building and system
components such as lighting, heating and cooling
are considered.
Source http//www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/fa
ctsheets/dangerous_experiment.pdf
23
Electricity generation in the US is the largest
source of carbon dioxide, producing 4 percent of
the total CO2 emissions in 2003. CO2 is the
main cause of global warming.
Source Pew Center on Global Climate Change, The
U.S. Electric Power Sector and Climate Change
Mitigation, Granger Morgan, Jay Apt and Lester
Lave, June 2005
24

• In the average home, 40 percent of all
  electricity used to power home electronics is
  consumed while the products are turned off.
• Nationwide, the total electricity consumed by
  electronics while idle equals the annual output
  of 12 power plants.

Source http//www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/home
.html
25

• 11 of the 12 hottest years on record have
  occurred in the last 12 years (1995-2006)

Source PSE Global Warming Fact Sheet
26

• Due to a warmer climate scientist believe
  Western Washington will see more of our
  precipitation falling as rain rather than as snow
  at higher elevations.

This means a higher chance of flooding and other
problems associated with more freshwater entering
the salty Puget Sound.
http//www.psat.wa.gov/Publications/climate_change
2005/climate_home.htm
27

• Scientists project that a 3-degree Fahrenheit
  rise in average August temperatures could cause
  up to 20 percent of the Columbia Snake River
  Basin and coastal watersheds in
• Washington and Oregon to become too warm for
  salmon, steelhead and trout species

Source http//www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/Wash
ington.pdf
28

• As sea level increases and stream flows
  decrease, the quality of Washingtons estuaries
  could decline, impacting oysters and clam
  populations and the states 77 million shellfish
  industry.

Sourcehttp//www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/Washi
ngton.pdf
29

• Reductions in crop yields are anticipated for
  many regions, especially in later decades as
  temperatures rise. Recent studies have shown that
  for rice, the worlds most significant grain
  crop, yields fall by 10 percent for each degree
  of warming

Source http//www.climatetrust.org/about_offsets
_facts.php
30
"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy.
What a source of power! I hope we don't have to
wait 'til oil and coal run out before we tackle
that. -Thomas Edison (18471931)
31

• Air conditioning and heating account for almost
  half of electricity use in the average American
  home.

Source http//www.nature.org/initiatives/climatec
hange/activities/art19631.html
32
Over 50 percent of the emissions attributed to
the average U.S household, come from creating
energy to heat and cool homes
33

• "Never doubt that a
• small group of
• thoughtful, concerned
• citizens can change
• the world. Indeed, it is
• the only thing
• that ever has. "
• -Margaret Mead

34
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. Its not. -Dr.
Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)