April 22nd, better known as Earth Day, is a perfect opportunity to bring the environment to the forefront and review some of the key global changes and trends impacting the world. So in honor of Earth Day the EarthTrends team has put together a few interesting statistics from our database.

Happy Earth Day!

Twenty-two years ago, the Montreal Protocol was adopted to protect the ozone layer from depletion. It was the first-ever international agreement on the regulation of chemical pollutants. (Carlowicz, 2009)

The Montreal Protocol was characterized by Kofi Annan as "one of the great success stories of international cooperation." As a recently released simulation of Earth without the Montreal Protocol shows, there would have been grim consequences for a business as usual approach. (See Figure 1.) Among other things, this simulation predicts an Earth with a dangerously insufficient ozone layer by 2050.

The relationship between economic growth and rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is the chicken or the egg question of the climate change debate. A growth in industry, and hence emissions, will no doubt stimulate a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Conversely, a higher GDP will often lead to a greater disposable income and higher standards of living which could manifest in more cars, more residential energy use and more consumption all of which will impact on a country's total emissions.

For those of us trying to make more sustainable choices within our daily lives, the decision to buy local produce appears to be an obvious next step. The transportation sector contributes nearly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries. It seems logical then that cutting down on the distance between consumers and producers should also have a direct impact on emissions. For this reason the last few years have seen a push for food miles labeling particularly in Europe. However, many critics of food miles feel that this system is at best tokenistic and in some cases does more harm than good.

The food miles debate highlights a clash between differing sustainable development agendas. From an environmental perspective, encouraging consumers to alter their purchasing patterns and limiting transportation emissions can only be a good thing. However, from an economic development point of view, food miles labeling can damage important industries in poor countries.

Around 80% of all life on Earth can be found in the oceans, which cover more than 70% of the planet's surface. Despite this wealth of life, less than 10% of our vast oceans have been explored by humans. This week, Google has released a new version of their popular Google Earth program which will give users the ability to discover the depths of our oceans.

Capturing and eating fish and rainforest wildlife, including large primates, for human sustenance has been practiced for generations. However, as human populations have grown and demand for these resources has increased, species in coral reefs and tropical rainforests--the most diverse ecosystem types on the planet--have been put in jeopardy.

Though both ailing fisheries and dwindling wildlife populations have received much attention and attempted remediation, these problems have been difficult to tackle because of competing interests among conservationists and fishermen/hunters who base their livelihood on harvesting wildlife. Two recently released studies offer new insight into the problem of harvesting wildlife, and perhaps even a solution.

The hazy skies over the 2008 Summer Olympics have placed Beijing's air quality at the top of news headlines for more than a month. However, outdoor air pollution, whether in the form of visible haze or invisible ozone and carbon monoxide, is a problem in nearly every country in the world.

On May 1, 2008, the Regulations on Government Disclosure of Information officially took effect, making China one of 70 countries worldwide that has enacted comprehensive freedom of information (FOI) legislation. The objective of the Chinese regulation specifically is "to ensure that citizens, legal persons and other organizations can obtain government information by lawful means and increase government transparency."

Speaking before an enthusiastic crowd at a sold-out DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., former Vice President Al Gore issued a challenge to "repower America." Gore's challenge is undoubtedly ambitious: he wants the entire U.S. electricity sector to shift to zero-carbon sources like wind, solar, and geothermal in the next 10 years.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt, especially in the most fragile and marginal ecosystems around the world. In particular, coral reefs, which are extremely sensitive to changes in the temperature and acidity of the water in which they form, are being destabilized by a changing ocean environment. Several scientific studies have demonstrated that many of the world's coral reefs are precariously close to total failure. A new study, while confirming this conclusion, does offer some hope.