1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (120 page)

Dan Shapley, “Natural Resources Being Depleted at Record Rates,” The Daily Green, September 13, 2007,
www.thedailygreen.com
.

“How Mercury Emissions Reach Tuna And Other Seafood, And Why Mercury Contamination Is Likely To Worsen,” Science Daily, May 3, 2009,
www.sciencedaily.com
.

915

FACT :
Acid rain is caused by both natural sources like volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and artificial sources like emissions from fossil fuel combustion. It threatens both animal and plant life through
acidification of lakes and streams
and damage to forests and forest soils.
The brown acid rain is particularly bad, so avoid it. It’s giving a lot of people bad trips.

“Effects of Acid Rain,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
www.epa.gov
.

916

FACT :
China’s Gobi desert is expanding at
the rate of over 10,000 square kilometers per year
, overtaking productive soil and threatening the livelihood of many villages.
The ants are loving it, though.

Larry West, “Scholars Predict 50 Million Environmental Refugees by 2010,”
About.com
,
www.environment.about.com
.

917

FACT :
Experts say more than 1,000 square kilometers of productive land is
lost annually
in Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya to desertification.
Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya have productive land?

Larry West, “Scholars Predict 50 Million Environmental Refugees by 2010,”
About.com
,
www.environment.about.com
.

918

FACT :
The state of Louisiana loses
about sixty-five square kilometers
of productive land every year to erosion by the sea.
Louisiana has productive land?

Larry West, “Scholars Predict 50 Million Environmental Refugees by 2010,”
About.com
,
www.environment.about.com
.

919

FACT :
In Alaska,
more than 200 communities
are threatened by rising sea levels that cause tides to extend about three meters further inland each year.
Alaska has 200 communities?

Larry West, “Scholars Predict 50 Million Environmental Refugees by 2010,”
About.com
,
www.environment.about.com
.

920

FACT :
New Zealand has agreed to accept
the almost 12,000 citizens
of the Pacific island state of Tuvalu if rising sea levels make the island uninhabitable.
New Zealanders don’t want to die alone when rising sea levels make their islands uninhabitable, too.

Larry West, “Scholars Predict 50 Million Environmental Refugees by 2010,”
About.com
,
www.environment.about.com
.

921

FACT :
Just a slight increase in sea levels could
submerge most of the Maldives
. President Mohamed Nasheed has proposed to relocate the entire 300,000 person nation to India, Sri Lanka, or Australia.
If Sri Lanka is safer than where you live, you need to move anyway.

Larry West, “Scholars Predict 50 Million Environmental Refugees by 2010,”
About.com
,
www.environment.about.com
.

Nicholas Schmidle, “Wanted: A New Home for My Country,” New York Times, May 8, 2009,
www.nytimes.com
.