Happy Anniversary Offshoots, Inc.!
The new year marks the 5th Anniversary for Offshoots. Since 2012, the team has taken on over 115 installation and design projects amounting to 100 acres, and 18 planning projects totaling over 1,600 acres. Offshoots projects have included a diversity of landscapes, including Girl Scouts camps, urban and rural residences, highway right-of-way projects, and commercial properties.
In every project, the Offshoots team strives to create landscapes that use a fraction (about 1/3) of the water traditional landscapes use, avoid toxic chemicals and synthetic fertilizers, and contribute to natural ecologies.
BY THE NUMBERS
In the past five years, Offshoots completed 86 installation projects, which have amounted to a savings of:
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- 46,065,286 gallons of waterA savings of $79,500 each year1
- Enough water to fill 615 inground pools each year2
- Enough water for 100 families to do laundry 4 times a week for the next 15 years3
- 2,135 bags of fertilizer
- The fossil fuel equivalent of 25 barrels of oil each year4
- Enough gasoline to fuel the Offshoots vehicle for 16 years5
- 830 pounds of pesticides6
- Working to decrease environmental and public health impacts
- Refer to this chart for toxicity comparison of commonly used pesticides
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Offshoots looks forward to the next five years of implementing productive landscapes across New England and beyond. Learn more about our projects at: offshootsinc.com/our-projects or get in touch: offshootsinc.com/contact.
Notes:
1. Monetary savings based on Newton, MA lowest water rate: $6.45 per hundred cubic feet. Source: Current Water and Sewer Rates. City of Newton, MA, http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/dpw/water/rates.asp. Accessed 10 Jan 2017.
2. Calculation based on 15,000 gallon inground pool (14ft x 28 ft., avg. 5ft depth). Source: Common Pool Sizes and Its Capacity In Gallons. King Pumps Inc. Water Supply, http://store.waterpumpsupply.com/info.htmll. Accessed 10 Jan 2017.
3. Calculation based on 30 gallons of water per load of laundry. Source: Liljegren, Fred, Landscape Architect, Bureau of Reclamation. Just the Facts About Outdoor Watering of Landscapes. University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, https://www.unce.unr.edu/programs/sites/nemo/files/pdf/HandoutFactsAboutWatering.pdf. Accessed 10 Jan 2017.
4. Calculation based on fertilizer fossil fuel equivalent of 2.5 gallons of gasoline for every 40-pound bag of fertilizer (10-10-10 “all-purpose” fertilizer). Source: Fertilizer Buying Guide. National Geographic, http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/green-guide/buying-guides/fertilizer/environmental-impact. Accessed 10 Jan 2017.
5. Calculation based on fossil fuel equivalent for gasoline and driving 10,000 miles at 30 mpg per year. Source: How Much Oil Does America Use? Green Car Reports, www.greencarreports.com/news/1084335_how-much-oil-does-america-use-check-out-this-infographic. Accessed 10 Jan 2017.
6. Calculation based on 7.5 lbs per acre per year; “pesticide” includes herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and rodenticides. Source: Secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder. More Than Just a Yard. Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/eea/wrc/morethanjustyard.pdf. Accessed 10 Jan 2017.