The Page That Counts :: Fall 2001

Length of time a 100-year supply of oil will last if consumption grows at 5 percent per year: 36 years

A 1,000-year supply of oil: 79 years

A 10,000-year supply of oil: 125 years1

Number of years sub-adult Sooty Terns (a species of seabird) stay aloft before returning to land to breed: 3 to 102

Average hourly earnings of an American white-collar man in 1973: $19.18

In 1997: $19.243

Average age at which Americans believe their attractiveness peaks: 384

Change since 1996 in US sales of organic foods: +122%5

Human resource managers who believe that casual attire at work contributes to tardiness and absenteeism: 44%

encourages flirting: 30%6

Number of languages spoken today: 6,800

Percentage of the world's 6 billion people considered indigenous: 4

Percentage of the world's languages that indigenous people speak: 607

Stories appearing in the newspaper that are planted by public relations firms

 on behalf of paying clients: 40%8

Number of years the US has used the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a practice bombing range:  60

Population of Vieques: 9,300

Viequenses who live below the poverty line: 72%

Odds that a Viequenses will develop cancer compared to other Puerto Ricans: 27% higher9

Guests on Fox News' top political shows who are Republican: 89%

Guests who are male: 91%

Guests who are white: 93%10

Rank of darts among the most popular American Sports: 2011

Number of people released from US prisons each day: 1,600

Percentage that will be re-arrested within three years: 66

Amount spent annually on prisons in the US: $46 billion

Increase in the amount spent on prisons in the last 20 years nationwide compared to

the increased spending on higher education: 6:1 12


Sources: 1. Nering, Evar D., “The Mirage of a Growing Fuel Supply,” New York Times, 6/4/01, p.A21.  2. Amazing Animal Facts, 3. Fraser, Jill Anderson, White Collar Sweatshop: The Deterioration of Work and Its Rewards in Corporate America, (WW Norton) as cited by Beatty, Jack, “Cannabalistic Capitalism,” The Atlantic Online, June 7, 2001, 4. AARP (Washington) as cited in “Harper's Index,” Harper's Magazine, May 2001. 5. Organic Trade Association (Greenfield, MA) as cited in “Harper's Index,”  Harper's Magazine, March 2001. 6. Parnes, Francine, “In Business: From Dressing Down to Suiting Up,”  New York Times. 7. Worldwatch:Working for a Sustainable Future, May/June 2001, vol 14, p 33. 8.  9.Todaro, Lenora, “One Stop Bombing,” The Village Voice, May 9–15, 2001. 10. “Media Mash: Last Call for Webby Voting”; “Love that BBC,” The Masher, AlterNet, July 3, 2001, 11. Northwest Health, Spring 2001, p15. 12. “Debt to Society,” Mother Special Report,


