My Earth Day 2015

This year, I had plenty to enjoy Earth Day, Wednesday April 22, 2015. Here are the bits.

At the Office

At work we had guest speaker Dan Weaver from Georgia Commute Options, presenting alternative commutes and incentives for not driving alone to work. I found out at least one other person takes MARTA to the office! Learned about the ride matching program. I also found out that the more employees of any given company log alternative commutes, the better their chances of winning prizes. Companies with small participation are put in a large, common pool for prize drawings. At work, there are enough participants so that there are one or two prizes allocated to the company each month, so the odds stack very favorably. 

We also had an Earth Day challenge and an environmental selfie challenge.

At Home (1/2) - BeltLine Presentation

Erika Burns, who routinely writes and volunteers for the Atlanta BeltLine, gave a presentation for my apartment building. We have a very active community involvement committee that made this possible. In her presentation, there were a few good things I didn't know:

• Stanton Park is now energy neutral, thanks to the use of solar panes. This park used to be an area where methane leaked from the ground.
• Old Fourth Ward Park behind Ponce City Market used to house buildings, which basements would flood because of a water reservoir nearby. The area is now converted to a water retention pool with nice landscaping and water features.
• $2.4bn property value has been added to the BeltLine corridor during the recession, and the amount is slated to continue to rise.
• The BeltLine is the largest art display in the Southeast. The famous Lantern Parade (attendance doubled last year to 23000 people) kicks off Art on the BeltLine every year at the end of Summer.
• Urban farmers will be brought to create a local food source from the green space.

At Home (2/2) - Earth Day Quiz

At my apartment building, we also had an Earth Day Quiz and a few people submitted the correct answer. Can you figure out the answer?