Plant Power!
The amount of tons of air pollution urban forests remove annually
What is 1.1 million tonnes?
Compacted urban soils often worsen flooding because they reduce this key soil property that controls how easily water and air move through the ground
What is soil porosity?
OR
What is Infiltration/Percolation?
This is the most prominent airborne pollutant in cities (HINT: comes from industry and vehicle emissions)
What is PM2.5?
The term for intentional overlap between natural and semi-natural elements within the Urban Built Environment
What is Green Infrastructure?
The percentage range of savings associated with installing a bioswale over gray stormwater infrastructure
What is 50-70%?
The amount of heavy metals a bioswale might be able to reduce in urban stormwater (percentage)
What is 50-80% reduction in heavy metal concentration?
Urban soils can help reduce city temperatures by storing water that later cools the air through this process where water changes from liquid to vapor.
What is evaporation?
OR
What is evapotranspiration?
This pollutant is one of the most common contaminants in urban stormwater runoff
What is heavy metals?
OR
What is petroleum hydrocarbons?
Green Infrastructure has tangible impacts across these three intersectional pillars of sustainability
What are Social, Economic (Fiscal), and Environmental sustainability?
One of the benefits of installing a Constructed Wetland (CW) over mechanical water remediation.
What is lifespan?
What is energy efficiency?
What is operational costs?
The amount of oxygen that trees in US Urban Forests produce annually (metric tonnes)
61 million metric tonnes
Urban soil microbial communities help break down hydrocarbons, pesticides, and other contaminants through this broad biological process that converts pollutants into less harmful substances
What is Biodegradation?
OR
What is Bioremediation?
This is the most common element contaminating urban soils
What is Lead?
This Green Infrastructure project is used as a robust stormwater management technique, taking advantage of root systems to mitigate runoff
What is a bioswale/rain garden?
The percentage reduction in energy usage conferred by the installation of a green roof
What is a 75% reduction in heating/cooling costs?
The amount of carbon emissions urban plants can sequester on a daily basis (percentage)
What is 30-60% of daily emissions?
Cities often add compost or organic material to urban soils because it improves soil structure and helps soils hold more of this resource that supports plants and reduces irrigation costs
What is soil moisture?
A pathogen that proliferates in standing water, raising health concerns around industries that need massive amounts of aqueous coolant
What is legionella?
This Green Infrastructure project not only manages stormwater, but has tangible impacts on urban heat islands and air quality
What are Green Roofs?
Atlanta's per-capita ROI from a one dollar investment in the urban forest (dollar amount)
What is 5-15 dollars per capita?
The percentage reduction of cardiovascular death associated with increased urban plant diversity
What is a 13% reduction of heart-disease risk?
Healthy urban soils can extend the lifespan of roads, sidewalks, and underground utilities by improving drainage and reducing this ground movement that can crack pavement and damage infrastructure
What is soil erosion?
The type of pollution most threatening to public health in the City of Atlanta
What is air pollution? (PM2.5 & Ozone)
This type of Green Infrastructure project is a powerful bioremediational tool for removing waste in agricultural and urban watersheds
What is a Constructed Wetland?
Saving estimates for integrating multiple Green Infrastructure strategies in one development project (dollar amount)
What is $120 million to $3.2 billion (City of Philadelphia)?