Earth Day — Thumbs Up!

THUMBS UP to Home Depot for their Mow Down Pollution Program!

Did you know that:

• Gas powered lawn equipment is responsible for 3-5% of Canada’s air pollution?
• An inefficient 2-stroke gas-powered lawnmower can emit the same amount of common air pollutants released in one hour as driving a new car for over 550 kilometers!
• By switching from gas powered lawn mower to an energy efficient, electric alternative, you could save up to $75 a year!

Since 2001, The Home Depot Canada and the Clean Air Foundation have retired over 26,800 gas powered mowers and trimmers and prevented over 748 tonnes of greenhouse gases and smog forming emissions. Last year, we successfully collected 8,825 lawnmowers, preventing the release of 129.91 tonnes of greenhouse gas and smog forming emissions – this is equivalent to taking 250 cars off the road! This year, our target is to collect 11,000 units. All collected gas-powered lawn equipment will be responsibly recycled ensuring no harmful materials are released into the environment.

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And THUMBS UP to Nova Scotia’s provincial government for announcing the protection of the Blue Mountains–Birch Lakes area.  On the eve of Earth Day, the NS government declared the 1,312 hectares of streams, lakes, wetlands and forest that sits next door to one of the most intensively developed areas in the region officially protected under the Wilderness Areas Protection Act.

It is the 35th area that has received such a designation as the province edges toward its goal of legally protecting 12 per cent of Nova Scotia’s land mass by 2015.