• A New Yorker leaves a smaller carbon footprint by drinking a French Bordeaux shipped across the Atlantic (2.93 pounds of carbon per bottle) than drinking a Napa Merlot (7.05 pounds).
• Acid-rain levels have dropped 60 percent since the early 1990s; air quality has improved 91 percent in terms of lead content.
• Tossing all the toilet paper in America would save 15 million trees, 17.3 terawatts of electricity, and more than 473 billion gallons of water annually; the environmental impact of bidets is minimal in comparison.
• Many economists now say the costs of building a high-speed rail network far outstrip possible benefits, especially when cars a becoming more energy-efficient. Harvard economist Edward Glaeser pegs the annual environmental benefit for a 240-mile high-speed rail line that attracts 1.5 million riders at $4.2 million.
• Cato scholar Randal O’Toole notes that French and Japanese ride their bullet trains less than 400 miles per year on average, and estimates that an American network would take, at best, 3.5 percent of cars off the road.

Source: Newsweek Magazine (August 24 & 31 issue)