Study Shows Chattanooga's Environmental Impact

   The environment has become a hot topic lately. The Ochs Center released a study about how the scenic city measures up.
   They surveyed 1000 residents about their quality of life, such as access open space, air quality, and transportation.
   Mayor Ron Littlefield, "Some of the interesting figures I thought was that our carbon footprint had grown by over 4 percent."
   Chattanooga had the 12th highest level of carbon emissions out of the 100 largest metro areas.   
   Jim Frierson, Green Committee, "Carbon footprint means our use of energy, it's not the same as saying pollution and that's really important for people to understand."
   Compared to the rest of the nation, Frierson says the South pays less for energy. Frierson, "Energy being a cheaper commodity for us, we consume more, that's not saying we're wasteful but there's room for efficiency."
   The study also found rapid residential growth near the edge of the county. That might explain why over 80 percent of people depend on their car to get to work. And with VW on the way, more growth is inevitable.
   Mayor, "Our community is the largest growing city in Tennessee. Our real challenge, tell us how we shrink our carbon footprint when our foot is growing."
   When it comes to our waterways, 225 miles of stream are considered "impaired". Of those, about 50 percent of streams and rivers are contaminated with E-coli.
   Chattanoogans gave high marks to the amount of parks and open space in the city. But some areas, including Woodmore, Brainerd and Glenwood, still lack access to parks.
   Here's a link to the study www.ochscenter.org