Random facts 5

School travel

 * The proportion of primary-aged children walking to school declined from 53 to 49 per cent, with an increase from 38 to 43 per cent in the numbers being driven to school. For secondary school pupils, the proportion travelling to school on foot and by car increased slightly while the proportion travelling by bus fell from 33 to 29 per cent. Source: Department for Transport - National Travel Survey: 2005. Transport 2000 press release

Supermarkets and the environment
Source: Friends of the Earth, September 8 2006
 * Around half of household waste arises from purchases made at supermarkets and convenience stores. A quarter of all rubbish put out by households is retail packaging. Information from WRAP
 * According to estimates by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [DEFRA], transporting food to and around the UK produced 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2002 of which 10 million tones were emitted in the UK - 1.8 per cent of total UK carbon dioxide emissions.
 * The DEFRA report also says that the overall social and environmental cost of food transport is £9 billion with impacts on road congestion, accidents, climate change, noise and air pollution.

Trees, woodland and forest

 * Worldwide, some 60 million indigenous people are almost completely reliant on forest resources for their livelihoods - for food and fuel, medicines and materials.
 * Forestry in Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland fares badly with a mere six per cent woodland cover, compared to the UK average of 12 per cent. Source: Woodland Trust



UK Coast

 * Wherever you are in the UK, you’re never more than 70 miles from the sea: Furthest distance from the sea: The Ordnance Survey has calculated that the furthest point from the sea in all of the UK is: Latitude: 52º 43.6'N, Longitude: 1º 37.2'W - which is very close to the village of Coton in the Elms in Derbyshire.


 * The UK’s 17,820 km (11,073 miles) of coastline is host to an array of flora and fauna; in fact more than 40,000 species - around 50% of the UK’s plants and animals - live in our seas - including intricate corals, whales & dolphins, giant (but harmless) basking sharks, seals, puffins and a myriad of fish, crustaceans and molluscs.

Source: Wildlife Trusts news release

Urban farming

 * An estimated 800 million people are involved in urban farming worldwide. Source: Worldwatch Institute / Growing and gardening

Urban focus

 * Of the 3 billion urban dwellers today, 1 billion live in "slums," defined as areas where people cannot secure key necessities such as clean water, a nearby toilet, or durable housing. Source: Worldwatch Institute
 * "80 per cent of the British population living in an urban environment - far higher than the global average" Defra