Eco Facts

AIR

• If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road.
  
  
• Benefits of ridesharing and alternative transit are endless - no road rage; no wear and tear on your personal vehicle; discount premiums on your car insurance; no parking hassle or fees; free use of the HOV lanes; less air pollution and do-gooder bonus points.
  
  
• Only one-third of children who live within a mile of their school walk or bike to it, but the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign, in cooperation with the State Department of Transportation, is increasing that number through education and safety training.
  
  
• Efforts by the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest resulted in reduced air pollution equivalent to taking all of the cars in the 13 county Metro-Atlanta area off the road for five days. This organization is helping to organize the community near the Live Oak landfill to clean up the hazardous, odiferous site in south DeKalb County.
  
  
• Southface Energy Institute has certified 1,000 EarthCraft homes in Atlanta, which are preventing thousands of tons of toxic emissions from being released into the air each year.
  
  
• One Habitat for Humanity homeowner testified that she is saving over $400 per year in energy costs, enough to feed one of her children for several months.
  
  
• One EarthCraft homeowner confirmed that her child became “virtually allergy-free” after they moved into their home.
  
  
• More than 800 tons of construction waste was kept from Georgia's landfills because of resource efficient techniques used by builders trained at Southface Energy Institute.
  
  
• Southern Alliance for Clean Energy successfully educated and advocated for passage of a state law allowing households and businesses to feed solar energy and other clean energy supplies onto the electricity grid. The organization is involved in the accreditation and development of Green Power (generated from renewable sources) across the Southeast.
  
  
• The number of children with asthma has been steadily increasing over the last decade. Poor children are more likely to be affected, and children of color are at highest risk. Health care expenditures for children with asthma average over $1000 per year including pharmaceuticals, emergency room, physician and outpatient visits. In 2000, asthma cost the US economy $14 BILLION.
  
  
• By the laws of aerodynamics, a bumblebee cannot fly.
  
  
• The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign succeeded in placing bike racks on all MARTA buses AND on all the buses in Cobb County, Clayton County and Gwinnett County. The organization produces bike maps of the Emory area, the Perimeter Center area, downtown, and midtown Atlanta.

LAND

• Elachee Nature Science Center sits in the midst of the 1,300-acre Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve in Gainesville, the largest land trust in North Georgia and one of the largest parks within city limits east of the Mississippi River. Over 40,000 students take field trips to learn about nature each year.
  
  
• If only 50 customers a day in every Starbucks store were to use commuter mugs, this would save at least 150,000 disposable paper cups daily. This equals 1.7 million pounds of paper, 3.7 million pounds of solid waste, and 15,000 trees a year.
  
  
• Spanish moss found in the limbs of Live Oak trees (Georgia’s state tree) was used as diapers by Native Americans of the low country.
  
  
• The 146 acres and 41/2 miles of walking trails at Reynolds Nature Preserve in Clayton County are enjoyed by 40,000 people a year.
  
  
• Atlanta spends $58 per person for its parks, compared with Kansas City, Missouri, which spends $184 per resident.
  
  
• There are less than 5 productive acres of land per person on the planet. The average American uses more than 24 acres.
  
  
• The Georgia Conservancy helped stop the Northern Arc by educating Georgians about the negative impacts of the proposal.
  
  
• Since its founding in 1972, Trust for Public Land has protected 1.4 million acres valued at $2.5 billion.
  
  
• In Georgia, there are eight open rail-trails, totaling 67 miles and 24 projects underway, potentially adding up to 365 miles to Georgia's trails.
  
  
• Eastern Bluebirds are raising hundreds of their young in nesting boxes placed throughout Callaway Gardens.
  
  
• Rails-To-Trails Conservancy worked closely with the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission to save the "Murmur Trestle" in Athens, Georgia,featured on the cover of REM's fittingly titled album, Murmer.
  
  
• Over 16,000 students participated in environmental education programs from trail hikes to programs on snakes and butterflies at Callaway in 2002.
  
  
• In the last six months of 2002, Callaway recycled over 59 tons of cardboard, metal, aluminum, tin, plastic, office paper, newspapers and magazines.

WATER

• The Chattahoochee River Basin has the largest diversity of fish species among Eastern Gulf Coast drainages.
  
  
• The Chattahoochee River Basin is the smallest watershed in the nation serving a major population, over 3 million people, and is considered one of America's ten "most endangered" rivers.
  
  
• The Chattahoochee River supplies 70% of metro Atlanta's drinking water, which is more than 300 million gallons per day.
  
  
• Economic impact: The 2000 state fisheries' annual report showed more than 110,000 trout anglers paid license fees to fish in about 4,000 miles of trout streams, generating an estimated $85 million a year on the sport in Georgia.
  
  
• Just 30 percent of the estimated 3 million visitors to the Chattahoochee River actually get in the water.
  
  
• Georgia has about 8 percent of its land protected and in public hands. Oregon has 50 percent.
  
  
• A stream can remain healthy if the amount of paved surface in the watershed is less than 10 percent.
  
  
• Studies show that a 50-foot buffer of trees can filter up to 90 percent of the silt and chemicals washing into the rivers. Georgia law requires only a 25-foot buffer.
  
  
• The Georgia Conservancy, Georgia Wildlife Federation and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper are leaders in the efforts to keep water as an affordable public resource in Georgia.

TREES

• Metro Atlanta is losing 50 acres of tree cover per day.
  
  
• Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper planted 3,000 trees near the River, in conjunction with the National Park Service and a few corporate partners. And since October 2002, Trees Atlanta volunteers have planted 4,960 trees in Atlanta and beyond. By the end of the year, an additional 4,000 trees will be planted or distributed.
  
  
• A 3° to 7°F drop in rooftop temperatures (provided by shade trees) translates to a 10% reduction in air conditioning requirements.
  
  
• Adding about 3 trees per house can reduce annual heating and cooling energy use by as much as $100 annually. PLUS the average property value of a lot having trees can increase $2,000 versus one that is bare.
  
  
• If the temperature is 86°F on a clear day, the parking lot temperature at Turner Field in the shade is 85-92°F. Without tree cover, the temperature is 127°.
  
  
• One single tree produces $3,000 to $5,000 worth of benefits per year, including $625 worth of oxygen and $1,240 worth of air cleansing.
  
  
• Trees are good medicine. Hospital patients get better faster and use fewer painkillers when their rooms have a view of trees. And a house surrounded by nature seems to help boost a child's attention capabilities.
  
  
• Planting street trees in urban areas lends a sense of community and order, and makes people feel more relaxed, directly causing a reduction in crime.