Information overload imminent! There are far too many facts, stats and research for me to possibly fit into one page here; plus I am far too lazy to pull it all together (obviously)!

Here are a few which I have found as useful inspiration, mainly from my two favourite sources of info: You can Save the Planet, by Rich Hough (buy it, it’s green living in a nut shell and I love it!) and random internet searches that start with “the number of….” or “the percentage of…”. What? Don’t judge me, I told you I was lazy!

I promise that when I have the time I will pull together a more comprehensive list. Or better still, do you have some facts you can hit back at me? Then pop them over to me: lazygirlgoesgreen@yahoo.co.uk

Note: The below is more of a Christmas Cracker, down-the-pub-showing-off style list of facts. They have the potential to be more… one day…

 Face the facts…

• Every year, a person will use 10x their weight in household rubbish
• Washing up by hand uses 30-200 litres of water. A dishwasher uses about 15 litres when full (now that’s the kind of lazy green living I like!)
• An average bath uses 80 litres of water. A power shower can produce as much as that in just 5 minutes – who knew?!
• Demand for water has doubled in the last 30 years – by 2025, two thirds of the world population will face water shortage
• A whopping £740 million of energy is used by electronic like TVs and stereos, just by leaving them on standby!
• Of the 40 million litres of paint sold each year in the UK, 20% is never used – naughty, lazy DIY-ers!
• 10% of greenhouse gases come from livestock, as well as 35% of the world methane emissions
• 300 million sq metres of landfill is used every year. That’s equivalent to 28,450 football pitches!!
• More than three million people die from air pollution and 2 million from water pollution each year – whilst there are some hot spots in developing countries, this is relevant worldwide
• Every year, 45,000 tonnes of plastic waste is dumped in the world’s oceans – killing up to 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals 
• If 3 light bulbs were swapped to energy efficient it would produce enough energy to light ALL street lamps in the country! So they’re a bit more pricy but WAY more efficient!
• Get repaired, don’t replace – 6.5 million tonnes of electrical products is wasted in Europe each year
• Meat consumption has doubled in the last 50 years, and is increasingly becoming an unsustainable industry for the growing population
• The average household produces 3.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or in party terms: 200,000 balloons!
• About 5 billion items of essential bathroom products (deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste) are used and thrown away every year
• Every year, in Europe alone, cosmetic manufactures test products on 38,000 animals – and as shops like Body Shop prove, they really don’t have to!
• A staggering £800 million of electricity and 500 billion litres of water are used for UK washing machines in just one year.
• At this moment in time, there are more than 400 million cars and truck on the world’s roads – there’s no use moaning about traffic when you’re sat alone in the car in it yourself!
• In the UK alone, 2 million PCs will be discarded in just one year
• 96% of fruit and 50% of veg eaten in UK is imported – what about our local farmers?