Essentials of Ecology

SUPPLEMENT 3 S19

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Total amount

recycled

% recycled

1960 1970 1980

Year

1990 2000 2005

Municipal solid waste recycled

(million tons)

Percentage of solid waste recycledFigure 16 Total amount and percent of municipal solid waste

recycled in the United States, 1960–2005. (Data from the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency)

Data and Graph Analysis

1. After 1980, how long did it take for the United States to triple
   the total amount of materials recycled in 1980?


2. In what 10-year period was the sharpest increase in the per-
   centage of solid waste recycled in the United States?

Sudan

Chad

Ivory Coast

Guinea Nigeria

Haiti

Democratic

Republic of

the Congo

Central African

Republic

Somalia

Myanmar

Timor-Leste

North Korea

Bangladesh

Ethiopia

Zimbabwe

Barundi

Uganda

Iraq

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Figure 17 Top 20 failing states in 2006. According to a 2007 study by
International Alert, 56 countries could become failing or failed states dur-
ing this century as a result of conflict and instability caused by projected
climate change. (Data from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, and Fund for Peace)