Metro Atlanta may be on the cusp of a building boom for data centers, according to a new report from CBRE. The energy-hungry facilities could present new challenges and opportunities in a region better known for its office and retail commercial markets.
Tag: Environment
Posted inColumns
Water Quality in South River – Root of the Problem
By Guest Columnist JACQUELINE ECHOLS, Ph.D., board president, South River Watershed Alliance
As we celebrate Earth Day, we are all likely reminded of a special place where nature comes to life in all of its grandeur that we celebrate on this day, this month, and all year long. That special place for me is the South River. Rather than being known for Panola Shoals or Albert Shoals, two massive and magnificent rock outcroppings, or one of its other unique natural features, the South River is best known for its long struggle with pollution.
Posted inLatest News
College students promote sustainability in world’s challenged communities
From helping cocaine farmers in Columbia shift to other products, to providing efforts to aid and repatriate migrants at the U.S. southern border, college students from metro Atlanta and across the Americas met Wednesday via Skype to discuss shared efforts to improve the world’s sustainability.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta’s proposed transportation department to be a horn of plenty for mobility
Atlanta’s proposed stand-alone transportation department is expected to salvage a mobility system that’s so systemically broken the city has a long history of farming work to outside entities – including the Atlanta BeltLine, Midtown Alliance and Central Atlanta Progress.
Posted inLatest News
Nation at ‘pivotal moment’ in environmental laws; Monday deadline for comments
The nation is at a “pivotal moment” in environmental law and Monday, April 15 is the deadline for public comment to a proposed ruling by the Trump administration that would reduce the amount of waters and wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act of 1972.
Posted inLatest News
City Nature Challenge combines two of metro Atlanta favorite pastimes
Two of metro Atlanta favorite pastimes – crowd sourcing and nature watching – are to come together this month in a competition led by the Fernbank Museum that involves citizen scientists from more than 100 cities around the world.
Posted inColumns
What Atlanta decides on tree canopy could benefit people as well as urban forest
By Guest Columnist KATHRYN KOLB, a naturalist who serves as director of EcoAddendum and also consults with communities on tree ordinances
As more of Atlanta’s trees fall to new development, the city plans to update its Tree Protection Ordinance. New tree ordinance revisions are being drafted in the next few weeks, so the time is now to embrace the moment and help our city’s leaders take the responsible road forward in protecting more of our irreplaceable trees and superlative urban forest.
Posted inLatest News
Obama blocked Trump from offshore oil drilling; House votes to oppose drilling
President Obama’s administration blocked President Trump from expanding the area open to offshore oil drilling, including off Georgia’s coast, a federal judge has ruled. On a related front, the Georgia House approved Tuesday a resolution opposing the exploration and drilling for oil off Georgia’s coast.
Posted inColumns
Solar ready homes could be Atlanta’s next step toward 100 percent clean, renewable energy
By Guest Columnist JENNETTE GAYER, director of Environment Georgia
When you look at a rooftop, what do you see? A protective shelter for a family or a business, sure, but do you also see a missed opportunity? I do.
In a world facing so many environmental challenges – from polluted air and water that threatens the health of our communities, to a rapidly changing climate – our existing infrastructure must be a part of the solution.
Posted inColumns
Oil drilling off Georgia’s coast an issue for Trump’s nominee for Interior secretary
The debate over oil exploration and drilling in federal waters off the Georgia coast, and much of the nation’s offshore waters, is likely to resume this week in a confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to head the Department of the Interior.
Posted inLatest News
Nesting shorebirds protected from predators in pilot program on Georgia’s coast
In the push and shove of the food chain, two bird species on Georgia’s coast received help from researchers who prevented coyotes and raccoons from eating nesting birds, their eggs and hatchlings.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia House poised to join cities in opposing offshore oil exploration, drilling
The Georgia House is poised to join more than a dozen Georgia cities in going on record against the Trump administration’s decision to allow seismic testing, and oil drilling, off the Georgia coast. A companion bill appears to be stalled in the Senate with about a week remaining the legislative session.
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Georgia Tech to launch master’s degree in sustainability this autumn
The growing demand for leaders in the realm of sustainability is the subject of a new master’s degree program Georgia Tech intends to launch this autumn.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta’s new clean energy plan shares aspirations with proposed Green New Deal
Atlanta’s newly adopted Clean Energy Plan to guide the city’s planned transition to 100 percent clean energy shares some similarities with the Green New Deal legislation filed in Congress, and arrives just in time for this week’s Climate Realty Project training session that’s headlined by Al Gore.
Posted inColumns
Memorializing wood that matters into things that last
By Guest Columnist RONNY JUST, a worker of wood
My German grandfather was sometimes described as stoic and unemotional. For many years I was unable to reconcile that description with my observation of the man’s passion for shaping red cedar – from his farm outside Austin, Texas – into treasured family heirlooms.
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Disease-causing bacteria in water off Georgia beaches now routine presence
Beachgoers were advised they may get sick if they enter the water along portion of three of Georgia’s coastal islands in February because of high levels of a waterborne bacteria associated with disease. The waters have been declared safe, but the warnings remind of the potential harm caused by runoff from manmade or other sources.
Posted inLatest News
Emory area could see skyscrapers under Atlanta’s proposed rezoning
Office towers of an unlimited height could be permitted on a portion of land brought into Atlanta through the annexation of Emory University and the surrounding area, according to the rezoning proposal.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Atlanta Audubon’s growing wildlife sanctuary program now includes Briarlake Forest Park
The Atlanta Audubon Society has certified yet another public park as a wildlife sanctuary, this one near Northlake Mall in DeKalb County and the latest in the society’s fast-growing program to provide havens for birds and critters.
Posted inLatest News
Planned spaceport near Brunswick subject of second lawsuit seeking public records
Camden County and two private companies leading the effort to build a planned commercial spaceport on Georgia’s coast have kept information secret and are in violation of Georgia’s Open Records Act for failing to release the information, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Camden County Superior Court.
Posted inColumns
Georgia’s solar industry lost ground in 2018; state can resume progress, GSEA says
Several new reports paint a fairly grim picture of the solar industry in Georgia, including one that shows the state lost 14 percent of the jobs last year that had been created in the solar industry. Georgia policymakers and the Trump administration’s tariffs are responsible for the downturn, reports contend.
