Green Fatigue: By the Numbers

• Number of Google hits for "eco-chic": 658,000
Source: Google

• Number of Google hits for "reduce, reuse, recycle": 390,000
Source: Google

• Tons of office paper Americans throw away every year: 7.4 million
Source: Waste Policy Center, Lessburg, VA

• Tons of food Americans throw away every year: 26.2 million
Source: Waste Policy Center, Lessburg, VA

• Percent of Americans who say they are concerned about the environment: 87 percent
Source: Environmental Research Associates Poll

• Percent of Americans who claim to "always" recycle cans, bottles, and newspapers: 55
Source: BBMG poll

• Percent of Americans who claim to bring a reusable bag with them while shopping: 16 percent
Source: BBMG poll

• Percent of Americans who say global warming is a serious problem: 86
Source: Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy

• Percent of Americans who say they'd seriously consider buying an SUV: 46
Source: Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy

• Amount of money given by Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to encourage recycling at Little League stadiums: $11,000
Source: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

• Number of vinyl banners and plastic recycling bins that will be purchased to encourage recycling at Phoenix-area Little League stadiums: 88
Source: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

• Number of baseball stadiums that should bother to recycle their waste, according to former EPA assistant administrator J. Winston Porter: Zero
Source: J. Winston Porter

• Amount of water wasted by a toilet leak in one month: 600 gallons
Source: www.wateruseitwisely.com

• Amount of water saved by a "low-flow" showerhead in a month: 500 gallons
Source: www.wateruseitwisely.com

• Amount of water saved per minute by shutting off the faucet while brushing your teeth: 4 gallons
Source: www.wateruseitwisely.com

• What Americans pay for water per day, on average: 25 cents
Source: http://ct.water.usgs.gov/education/trivia.htm

• Amount of water needed to make four new tires: 2,072 gallons
Source: http://ct.water.usgs.gov/education/trivia.htm

• Amount of water needed to process a barrel of beer: 1,500 gallons
Source: http://ct.water.usgs.gov/education/trivia.htm

• Amount of water used by the average Phoenix resident per day: 170 gallons
Source: www.phoenix.gov

• Number of natural-gas-powered light-duty vehicles in Mesa's public works fleet, 2004: 400
Source: Mesa Fleet Director Pete Scarafiotti

• Number of natural-gas-powered light-duty vehicles in the City of Mesa's "X" fleet, 2008: 185
Source: Mesa Fleet Director Pete Scarafiotti

• Extra cost per mile for Mesa to operate light-duty trucks and natural-gas-powered cars, compared to conventional vehicles: 3 cents
Source: Mesa Fleet Director Pete Scarafiotti

• Amount of money Arizona spent in 2000 subsidizing alternative-fuel vehicles: $140 million
Source: Arizona Legislature

• Amount of alternative fuels those subsidized vehicles were required to use: Zero
Source: Arizona Legislature

• Number of Toyota Priuses that could be purchased with $140 million: About 7,000
Source: New Times research

• Increase in daily bus trips reported by Valley commuters from 1997 to 2007: 0.3 percent
Source: Workplace surveys cited by the Maricopa County Running Out of Air campaign

• Increase in single-occupant vehicle trips by Valley commuters from 1997 to 2007: 47 percent
Source: Workplace surveys cited by the Maricopa County Running Out of Air campaign

• Number of Arizona vehicles registered as using alternative fuels in 2003: 13,330
Source: Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicles Division

• Number of Arizona vehicles registered as using alternative fuels in 2008: 11,799
Source: Arizona Department of Transporation, Motor Vehicles Division. Note: In order to compare apples to apples, statistics do not include electric-gasoline hybrids, which became eligible for the alternative fuel plates in 2007

• Amount spent by Arizona's five largest state agencies on gasoline and diesel in 2007: $6 million
Source: Arizona Department of Administration

• Amount spent by Arizona's five largest state agencies on alternative fuels for vehicles in 2007: $426,865
Source: Arizona Department of Administration

• Estimated pounds of carbon dioxide generated per U.S. vehicle in an entire year: 12,100
Source: U.S. EPA

• Estimated pounds of carbon dioxide generated by one passenger's round-trip ticket from Sky Harbor International Airport to New York's JFK International Airport: 12,400
Source: www.carbonplanet.com

• Number of housing units in Arizona: 2,605,283
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

• Number of Arizona houses with rooftop solar panels: 1,692
Source: Arizona Department of Commerce. (Number does not include solar panels that aren’t tied into the state’s electric grid)

• Year that Al Gore began traveling the country, pressing Americans to sacrifice to stop global warming: 2001
Source: Lexis-Nexis

• Year that the Tennessee Center for Policy Research revealed Gore's electric bill to be 20 times the national average: 2007
Source: Lexis-Nexis

• Year that Gore got around to installing solar panels: 2007
Source: Lexis-Nexis

• A blogger's estimate of the size of solar panels needed to handle half of Gore's electric load: 8,700 square feet
Source: http://billhobbs.com/2007/04/gores_solar_panels_bad_investm.html

• Number of environmental programs sponsored by the city of Phoenix: 70
Source: Arizona Republic “Match Me With My Wheels,” February 8, 15, and 22, 2008

• Number of Phoenix City Council members who drive SUVs: 7
Source: Arizona Republic “Match Me With My Wheels,” February 8, 15, and 22, 2008

• Number of Phoenix City Council members who don't: 1
Source: Arizona Republic “Match Me With My Wheels,” February 8, 15, and 22, 2008

• Percentage of recycled paper used to print Vanity Fair's "Green Issue": Zero
Source: Vanity Fair statement as reported by trade magazine Folio

• Percentage of recycled paper used to print New Times' "Green Fatigue" issue: 40
Source: Trend Offset Printing, California