Information

This section was created to provide information to help you create a healthy home for you and your family and to learn more about personal, community, and global environmental issues, and how you can help.

We are continually adding categories to the information section of this web site. We welcome any suggestions of topics you would like to see.

Carpet - issues and concerns of carpeting
Certified Wood - defining certifications
Color Theory
Flame Retardants - dangers of flame retardants
Hemp - history of hemp
Mercury - water, and fluorescent lamps
Multiple Chemical Sensitivities
Teflon - dangers of Teflon non-stick coatings.

Take a quiz to find out what your your impact on this planet is.
Ecological Footprint

Recommended Magazines
YES! A Journal of Positive Futures: Award-winning quarterly magazine. website
Orion magazine: Explores an emerging alternative world view. website

Movies to Check out:
Blue Vinyl: Documentary on the vinyl industry. website
Bowling for Columbine: A documentary about gun control and the American psyche.
Michael Moore's The Awful Truth: Michael Moore takes on bureaucrats and corporations accused of wrongdoing in this documentary series.
The Hemp Revolution: Documentary on the history of Hemp.
Trade Secrets: Documentary aired on PBS about the public's right to know the truth about the chemicals that surround us. website

Stats & Facts

Global
About 1,113,000 hectares of forest in Brazil and 989,000 hectares in Canada were destroyed in 1995 (McCrory et. al. 1997).

British Columbia has about forty percent of its original forests remaining, while Europe has less than half (Dudley et. al. 1995).

The United States have approximately one to two percent of their original forest cover (Dudley et. al. 1995). "Recent reports by the World Resources Institute have shown that more than 80% of the planet's natural forests have already been destroyed" (Hatch 1997).

Still, with all the present and predicted problems, it was estimated that one acre of Canadian forest was logged every 12.9 seconds in 1995 (McCrory et. al. 1997).

McCrory, Colleen et. al. "The Global Crisis Continues in Canada's Forest." Brazil of the North II. 1997, p.1

Dudley, Nigel, Jeanrenaud, Jean Paul and Sullivan, Francis. Bad Harvest? The Timber Trade and the Degradation of the World's Forests. London: Earthscan Publications, 1995.

Hatch, Chris. "Consuming Canada's Forests." Brazil of the North II. 1997, p. 23.

United States
In the US, approximately 340 billion gallons of fresh water are withdrawn per day from river, streams, and reservoirs to support residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and recreational activities. Almost 65% of this water is discharges to rivers, streams, and other water bodies after use and, in some cases, treatment. In some parts of the US, water levels in underground aquifers have dropped more than 100 feet since the 1940's. Americans extract 3,700 billion gallons per year more than they return to the natural water system to recharge aquifers and other water sources. USGBC LEED? Reference Guide 2.0

In the United States, approximately 6.6 tons (almost 15,000 pounds carbon equivalent) of greenhouse gases are emitted per person every year. And emissions per person have increased about 3.4% between 1990 and 1997. Most of these emissions, about 82%, are from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity and power our cars. The remaining emissions are from methane from wastes in our landfills, raising livestock, natural gas pipelines, and coal, as well as from industrial chemicals and other sources. US EPA website 2003

The Carpet Recycling Committee says that 1.8 million tons of rugs and carpets are sent to landfills each year. Produced by Sonya Capek, National Parks Service - Pacific West Region (Updated: October, 2000)

Washington State
In 2001, the statewide recycling rose to 37 percent, up from 35 percent the year before.

Recycling diverted more than 4 million tons of materials from landfills and incinerators in 2001.

If we diverted organic material away from the landfill to composting facilities we would reduce our greenhouse gas emission from landfills by as much as 78%. Washington State Dept. of Ecology, Nov. 2002, publication 02-07-028

In 2001 Washington recycling programs supplied industry with more than 4.2 million tons of recycled commodities such as metals, plastics, paper, glass, wood and construction and demolition scrap.

The 1.42 million tons of metals, paper, glass, and plastic recycled in Washington in 2001 saved a total of about 19 trillion BTU's of energy. This is enough to power more than 18,000 homes for an entire year.

Washington's' measured recycling efforts for 2001 reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 1.1 million tons, or 370 pounds per person, as well as 7,000 tons of water pollutants, and 113,000 tons of air pollutants. Washington State Dept. of Ecology, Nov. 2002, publication 02-07-026