A saying from rural South Georgia goes, “The farmer prays for rain, while the golfer prays for sunshine.” This year, many Georgia farmers report the persistent rains through May have damaged crops, even as the national drought report issued today shows the rains have eliminated drought conditions across the state.
Tag: Environment
Posted inColumns
Pruitt’s departure leaves an administration still in love with oil, gas and coal
Maybe it’s something in all that granite. Scott Pruitt isn’t the first public servant to succumb to Potomac Fever by far, but he exercised his sense of entitlement with memorable gusto.
Posted inColumns
PATH 400, Buckhead greenspace expand with guidance from Livable Buckhead
The next phase of PATH 400 is to be a trail alongside Atlanta’s own version of Okefenokee Swamp, a wetlands in Buckhead complete with beaver dams. Just four years ago, this stretch of trail appeared to be little more than gilding on a dream. Now, construction is funded and awaits just a go-ahead from Norfolk Southern Corp.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta well positioned to continue efforts to thrive in an rapidly changing world
By Guest Columnist STEPHANIE STUCKEY, a sustainability expert
In May 2016, Atlanta became the final city to be part of 100 Resilient Cities (“100 RC”), a program pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation to help cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st Century.
The Rockefeller network enables cities to increase the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems to survive, adapt, and thrive no matter what chronic stresses or acute shocks they face.
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Supreme Court ruling in water war may shift burden to farmers in Southwest Georgia
Metro Atlanta may have escaped unscathed, but farmers in Southwest Georgia may one day feel the prick of the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday on the lawsuit Florida filed against Georgia to increase the flow of water into the Sunshine State.
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Supeme Court sends Fla./Ga. water lawsuit back to special master for more consideration
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the special master who considered the federal lawsuit Florida filed against Georgia over water flow from Georgia into Florida will gather additional information in the case before justices issue a final ruling. Justices determined the special master had applied too strict a standard with Florida’s claim that Georgia was hoarding water to the detriment of the Apalachicola River Basin.
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Trump administration rewrites clean water rule, environmentalists vow to push back
The Trump administration has submitted to the White House a new definition of the “Waters of the United States,” a proposal the Southern Environmental Law Center contends could remove environmental protections from up to 60 percent of the nation’s streams and more than 90 percent of wetlands.
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Peregrine falcons prefer nesting in Atlanta high-rises to North Georgia canyons
Peregrine falcons have joined the back-to-the-city movement that has brought thousands of new residents into Atlanta. A new state survey shows that peregrines are likely nesting in high-rise buildings from Midtown to Buckhead, rather than on the faces of canyons in the mountains of North Georgia.
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Chamblee, Gwinnett County win grants to devise smart transportation technology
The next generation of transportation technology is to be developed in Chamblee and Gwinnett County, which on Tuesday were awarded cash grants and year-long technical support from a Georgia Tech research team. They were among the four winners of the first Georgia Smart Communities Challenge.
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Georgia advises patience with Canada geese; feds want to destroy nests, eggs year-round
Georgia wildlife officials are asking the public to exercise patience with Canada geese when they are land-bound in early summer. The federal government is seeking permission to destroy nests and eggs of resident Canada geese at any time of year.
Posted inColumns
Georgia wins a water lawsuit, contends federal foot-dragging is slowing progress
Georgia has scored a major victory in one battle of the ongoing water war involving river flow into other states. However, Georgia contends that foot-dragging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has resulted in a lack of progress on the order issued by a federal judge, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
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South Fork Conservancy celebrates 10 years, looks to more creekside conservation
The South Fork Conservancy has entered its second decade of protecting the natural environment along the South Fork of Peachtree Creek with plans for a new pedestrian bridge over the creek – and money in the bank to pay for building the bridge and other projects.
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Georgia’s bald eagles rebound to point survey funds shifted to other projects
Georgia’s population of bald eagles has recovered to the point that the state has reduced the size of the land surveyed for nests. The shift will enable the state to reallocate money for other conservation projects, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
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As e-bikes loom as commuting option, Atlanta scrambling to regulate their use
Atlanta is trying to get a handle on the use of electric bicycles, which are proliferating in the city and presenting new threats to pedestrians when the pedal-assisted e-bikes are ridden or parked on sidewalks, trails and in parks. The debate is to begin Wednesday in the Atlanta City Council’s Transportation Committee.
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New home for chimney swifts to open in Piedmont Park’s bird-friendly habitat
The Atlanta Audubon Society has embarked on addressing a housing crisis encountered by the once-common chimney swifts – a lack of nesting places in tree cavities and the chimneys that gave the birds their name.
Posted inColumns
Georgia urgently needs a coastal hazard study and plan
By Guest Columnist DAVID KYLER, executive director of the Center for a Sustainable Coast, located in St. Simons
Enormous burdens on Georgia taxpayers have been imposed by damage from major storms over the past two years. Such impacts over this period are estimated to have cost Georgians some $5 billion in property and infrastructure damage, evacuation expenses, and recovery/clean-up. The majority of these expenses have been imposed by hurricanes, Matthew (2016) and Irma (2017).
Posted inColumns
Georgia’s water wars: Three lawsuits pending after Supreme Court rules on Florida case
Metro Atlanta and Georgia are far from the finish line in the water wars. Even after the U.S. Supreme Court rules by June 30 on the case brought against Georgia by Florida, three federal lawsuits remain pending.
Posted inColumns
Tech’s future police headquarters designed to promote health of occupants
Georgia Tech’s planned police headquarters is designed to comply with a fairly new set of standards that aim to improve the health and wellness of those who spend time inside the building. In at least one instance, the standard is tighter than LEED standards.
Posted inColumns
Citizen scientists gathering information to inform policy decisions in West Atlanta
By Guest Columnist EMILY WEIGEL, of Georgia Tech, with NA’TAKI OSBORNE JELKS, of Agnes Scott College, and RUTHIE YOW, of Georgia Tech.
“I didn’t know crawfish lived in Atlanta!” Peering into the palm of U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Tamara Johnson, a student’s eyes grew wide at the wriggling resident of Proctor Creek. Proctor is a tributary of the Chattahoochee River; it lends its name to the only watershed located entirely in city limits. And its crawfish matter … more than you might imagine.
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First loggerhead turtle nest of 2018 found on Cumberland Island
Sea turtle nesting season has begun on Georgia’s coast. The first loggerhead turtle nest of the year was found Tuesday on Cumberland Island, and state wildlife officials expect the number of this year’s nestings to be above average for this threatened species.
