Our Resources It takes 1,400 pounds of water to produce one pound of food. More than 25 million acres of arable and pasture land, the source of 98 percent of the world's food, are critically degraded and abandoned each year. The Earth's limited supply of natural resources will only be able to sustain 2 billion humans by 2100, bad news for a world that already feeds 5.9 billion. The world's total population will reach six billion by mid-1999. --Reuters. Farm animals consume nearly half the world's cereal produce. Growing grain to feed animals to turn them into meat is an inefficient business- an acre of cereals can produce five times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production. The United States makes up less than 5 percent of the total population on earth. Yet, we currently consume over 30 percent of all the resources. For the $25 it might cost to insulate the average 12-window, two-door house, you could save 10 percent or more of your yearly heating bill. If every gas-heated home were properly caulked and weather-stripped, enough natural gas would be saved each year to heat another 4 million homes. Simple heavy drapes attached to windows with a valance could save about $10 per window in heating costs each winter. "The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that more than half of the wetlands that existed in colonial times --about 100 million acres-- have been destroyed, with many thousands of more lost each year." -- Joby Warrick, Washington Post Staff Writer, New Wetlands Guidelines, New Openings. Water system regulations and drainage for agriculture and urban development have been the major cause of loss of over 50 percent of the wetlands in countries all over the world including the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, Niger, Chad, Tanzania, India, Vietnam, and Italy. -- ENN Organic farming can save up to 50% of energy, according to studies. Using manure can save 80% of the energy consumed by using synthetic fertilizers.