*Of the 95.2 million tons of marine animals caught every year, about 38.5 million are unwanted. “As long as 40 percent of what we take out of the sea is treated as refuse, fish stocks cannot recover,” says World Wildlife Fund fisheries expert Karoline Schacht.--BERLINER MORGENPOST, GERMANY.
* “It’s an astonishing fact that year after year, the Bible is the best-selling book in America — even though 90% of households already have at least one copy. . . . An estimated 25 million copies [are] sold each year.” -- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, UNITED STATES.
* “Cows, sheep and goats may seem like innocent victims of humanity’s appetite for meat, but . . . worldwide, live- stock burps are responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions [mainly methane] —more than produced from all forms of transport combined.”— NEW SCIENTIST, BRITAIN.
* Some “210 billion emails per day were sent in 2008.” -- NEW SCIENTIST, BRITAIN.
* “Globally, snake bite affects the lives of some 4.5 million people every year, and conservative estimates suggest that at least 100,000 people die from snake bite, and another 250,000 are permanently disabled.” -- UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.
*Wind Turbines Kill Bats
In Alberta, Canada, bats are being found dead at the foot of wind turbines, reports the magazine Scientific American. This has left investigators perplexed, given the bats’ remarkable sonar and flying abilities. However, researchers have discovered internal hemorrhaging in 92 percent of the victims examined, leading to the conclusion that the bats’ delicate respiratory system cannot cope with the sudden drop in air pressure created by the turbine blades. These blades can move at a speed of 125 miles an hour at their extremities. Insect-eating migratory bats are principally affected, and it is feared that wind turbines could have a destabilizing effect on ecosystems. -- Awake! July 2010
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