According to a fact sheet by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the construction industry consumed 60 percent of the materials flow in the U.S. economy (excluding food and fuel).” 

More than 40 years after the 1978 ban on the use of lead-based paint in housing, millions of American children are being exposed to lead on a regular basis. “An estimated 15.2 million children in the U.S. go to schools in school districts that [have] lead-based paint,” reports The Conversation. This exposure to lead is occuring about 7 hours per day and five days per week.