Matter of scale: liquidating our assets.

• Position: Effects of human activities on wildlife and natural resources

Liquidating Our Assets

Amount of water returned to the Ogallala Aquifer by rainfall each year 2.4 billion gallons Amount drawn from the Ogallala for irrigation and other human uses each year 20.0 billion gallons Amount of topsoil created by nature each year 0.4 billion tons Amount lost to erosion 25.0 billion tons Time it takes the global human economy to consume the equivalent of 22 million tons of oil 1 day Time it took the planet to create that energy 10,000 days Number of species lost to extinction each year, on average, during the past 65 million years 1 to 10 Number lost in the past year (conservatively estimated) 1,000 to 10,000 Time it took for the world to lose 1 percent of its forests, on average, during the 30 centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution 100 years Time it is taking to lose 1 percent now 1 year Number of endangered black-footed ferrets known to remain in the wild 24 Number of endangered Madagascan tree boas found in a suitcase being carried by smuggler Simon David Harris in 1996 61 Number of...