The storm couldn’t have been worse for Georgia’s cotton harvest, coming as it did and prompting this headline from newsweek.com — “Hurricane Michael destroys crop of ‘a lifetime’…’” More than the hurricane impacted Georgia’s cotton crop this year. Cotton’s story is replete with Washington politics, trade war with China, and freakish weather from spring through autumn.
Tag: Environment
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Battle over Plant Vogtle costs Jacksonville a downgrade in credit ratings, outlook
The battle among the owners of Plant Vogtle over its continued construction has led to a lowering of the credit ratings of about $2.1 billion in bonds sold by Jacksonville, Fl. The concern is the city’s reliability to repay its debts, according to a rating action issued by Moody’s Investors Service.
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As the ‘drag’ approaches, Eastern North Carolina remains in peril
Eastern North Carolina seems destined by geography, economy and politics to become a battleground in the emerging war over climate change, which over the past couple of days has taken a fateful turn.
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Planned Rodney Cook Sr. park hitting bumps in final stages of formation
A bit of push-back is emerging around the planned Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Historic Vine City. One Atlanta resident said Tuesday at a public hearing the name marks it as Confederate memorial park. On Wednesday, the Atlanta City Council’s Finance Committee voted to delay action on a proposal to condemn six parcels of land needed to make the park as it’s currently envisioned.
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Dismantling a dam, improving Middle Oconee River for wildlife, recreationalists
There was a time when the removal of a dam across a river was described in near Biblical terms, according to an account of the time. Such words have yet to be spoken regarding the removal of most of a dam across the Middle Oconee River, but time will tell as fish and recreational users adjust to the free-flowing river.
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Retiring Georgia parks director got her start in DeKalb County
After developing community parks in DeKalb County a generation or more before such parks were widely appreciated, Becky Kelley went on to oversee all parks in Georgia. As she retires in the coming weeks, Kelley on Wednesday is to receive recognition for her career’s work from the board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
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A wake-up call in effort to strengthen Atlanta’s tree ordinance
By Guest Columnist LINDSAY WILLIAMS BELLASI, who became a tree activist following a clear-cutting incident in her Northwest Atlanta neighborhood
As I drove home one summer night down West Wesley Road, a large dark shadow swooped in front of our car. “Wow!” shrieked my 5- and 6 year-old boys from the backseat. “Did you see that?” It was a huge owl – probably with a wingspan of 6 feet or more. We added it to the animal bingo board game we play, not realizing not realizing that some of the bird’s habitat in our neighborhood was about to be obliterated.
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Hurricane Florence highlights relief aid by Muslims, effect of climate change on storms
Hurricane Florence marked two notable milestones regarding hurricanes that hit the United States – Muslim organizations continue to provide significant relief aid, and climate change is now part of the conversation over the intensification of hurricanes.
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Georgia Water Coalition honors 13 for cleaning waterways, including Interface flooring
The commercial carpet company founded by Ray Anderson, the corporate environmentalist who preached the value of sustainable manufacturing processes, was named Wednesday as a Water Hero in the second annual Clean 13 awards program sponsored by the Georgia Water Coalition.
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Windsor Meadows Park latest addition of floodplain turned into greenspace
The exuberant Zoey pulled on her leash as she and her companion, Julie Glasson, strolled around Windsor Meadows Park, the newest pocket park in a metro region where residents clamor for more greenspace. These smaller gathering places are likely the future of public places as land for parks becomes ever more dear.
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Oakland Cemetery launches $1 million campaign to protect shrinking tree canopy
By David Pendered
Oakland Cemetery is launching a $1 million fundraising campaign to preserve a tree canopy that has suffered a loss of about 50 percent since 1982. This is the latest push in the cemetery’s ongoing effort to promote and protect trees in the city’s original garden cemetery.
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U.S. Mint honors ‘pristine’ Cumberland Island as feds consider allowing new houses, rockets overhead
Even as the U.S. Mint releases a new quarter to honor the “primitive, undeveloped character” of Cumberland Island, two other federal entities are considering proposals to shoot space rockets over Georgia’s coastal island and to develop houses there.
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Atlanta Audubon to update, expand education programs with anonymous $99,980 gift
In 2009, the Atlanta Audubon Society launched a program that tailors lessons to a teacher’s curriculum and goes to the school to teach students about birds. Now, the group plans to revise the program with proceeds of a $99,980 gift from a private Atlanta family foundation.
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New Kathryn Johnston park a link in flood relief efforts along Boone Boulevard
Residents of Westside Atlanta envisioned the newly named Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park as a site to help curb persistent flooding in the English Avenue neighborhood long before plans for a park were conceived, Park Pride Executive Director Michael Halicki said Thursday.
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Most metro Atlantans think global warning is happening, manmade, Yale survey shows
A majority of metro Atlanta residents think global warning is happening, is caused by human activities and is affecting the weather. A majority thinks global warming will harm future generations, according to a new survey by an affiliate of Yale University.
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Non-profit climate group campaigns for new taxes to combat rising sea levels
The passage of a $192 million bond referendum in Miami last year established that taxpayers are willing to shoulder debt to ward off rising sea levels. A group that helped fund that campaign is connected to a digital company that now offers free science-based predictions on rising sea levels along Georgia’s coast.
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Sea turtle nesting on Georgia’s coast off last year’s pace
As the sea turtle nesting season winds down along Georgia’s coast, the number of nests appears to have dropped by about 21 percent compared to this time last year, according to preliminary data compiled by seaturtle.org.
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Bacterial testing of river water a new feature of Float on the Flint this autumn
The fifth annual Fall Float on the Flint River event this autumn offers a new attraction – the monitoring of bacterial levels in the river in light of the release of up to 1 million gallons of raw sewage into the river this summer from sewage facilities in Albany.
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Federal funding to improve city sewage system overwhelmed by Kia plant
The federal government has provided its second round of funding to help improve the sewage treatment system in Hogansville, where growth in population and industry related to the nearby Kia manufacturing facility has overwhelmed the city’s sewage system, according to the statement announcing the latest loan.
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Augusta lock, dam may be demolished to make way for fish passage to spawning grounds
The 1937 lock and dam across the Savannah River in Augusta would be demolished in four of the five proposals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to build a new fish passage that’s a requirement of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.
