猫咪社区

This article appears in Cities Are Now, the Winter 2015 issue of 猫咪社区! Magazine.

Percentage of American children enrolled in preschool who are black: 18

Percentage of all preschool students suspended from school who are black: 48

Percentage of families of fast-food workers who are enrolled in one or more public assistance programs: 52

Cost of public assistance to families of workers in the fast-food industry: $7 billion

McDonald’s net income in 2013: $5.6 billion

Value, according to ecological economists, of the planet’s annual “ecosystem services” (including clean water, fertile soil, and atmospheric regulation): $125 trillion

Annual gross domestic product worldwide: $74.9 trillion

Percentage of 27 Appalachian streams in mined valleys that were impaired according to Clean Water Act Standards: 90

In a 78-year lifespan, number of days of ill health directly associated with residence in a mountaintop removal mining county: 1,404

Length, in feet, of the world’s largest beaver dam (found in Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park): 2,789

Estimated duration, in years, of the dam’s ongoing multigenerational construction: 25

Amount taxpayers saved when 85 chronically homeless individuals in Charlotte, N.C., were provided with permanent supportive housing: $1.8 million

Percentage reduction in emergency room visits by tenants after moving into supportive housing: 78

Average cost of hospital bills per tenant in the year prior to living in housing: $41,542

Average annual cost of hospital bills per tenant while living in housing: $12,472

Tons of toxic materials from mobile and stationary sources removed from the air every year since the Clean Air Act was amended in 1990: 3 million

Compared to 1990 levels, percentage by which the EPA predicts airborne toxic materials from cars and trucks will fall by 2030: 80

Value of a single elephant’s tusks: $21,000

Estimated lifetime ecotourism value of a single elephant: $1,607,625

Sources:

4. “Changes in the Global Value of Ecosystem Services,” Robert Costanza et al., Global Environmental Change, May 2014 (Vol 26). 6. “Mountaintop Removal Mining: Digging Into Community Health Concerns,” David C. Holzman, Environmental Health Perspectives, November 1, 2011. 7. “Health-related quality of life among central Appalachian residents in mountaintop mining communities,” Keith Zullig and Michael Hendryx, American Journal of Public Health, May 2011 (Vol. 101, No. 5).