Growing to Extinction

Here are some interesting facts found within Bill McKibben’s book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future:

- The average bite of American food has traveled 1,500 miles and changed hands 6 times before it reaches your mouth.

- The average new home size has doubled since 1970.

- Only 22% of the energy contained in coal is effectively put to use.  The rest is wasted at the power plant, through transmission, and by inefficient appliances.

- If the Chinese ate meat like Americans, they’d use 2/3 of the world grain harvest.

- If the Chinese owned cars like Americans, they’d use more than all the oil currently produced globally.

- Money consistently buys happiness right up to about $10,000 per capita income, and then after that point the correlation disappears.

Read the book: