the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Boating, walking, birding, hunting, fishing: our watersheds provide
us all that, plus what goes in upstream comes out in your drinking
water. Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little Rivers: WWALS
Seminar tomorrow in Tifton. Good talks, good food, good water. Y'all come!
-jsq
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The Chamber, the Industrial Authority, and various other local leaders
say they want knowledge-based jobs, or creative jobs.
We won't get those just by teaching students to show up on time and
do what they're told: that's how you train factory workers,
not knowledge-based employees.
For creative jobs we also need Technology, Talent, and Tolerance.
How do you measure Tolerance?
One key component is the concentration of gays and lesbians.
So today's
South Georgia Pride Festival
is a good sign for creative jobs in south Georgia!
Richard Florida wrote 16 July 2012 for The Atlantic, The Geography of Tolerance,
The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the Tolerance Index, as updated for The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S. metros according to three key variables—the share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups.
Do you recognize that shape in the middle of south Georgia?
That's the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area,
consisting of Lowndes, Echols, Lanier, and Brooks Counties.
Looks like about 0.4 on the Tolerance Index.
So sure, we're no Austin, Texas, but we're in the same range as oh,
Charlotte, NC.
If you want to help promote creative jobs in south Georgia, there's a festival going on today:
South Georgia Pride Festival
noon until 6PM
John W Saunders Park
1151 River Street
Valdosta, Georgia
food and music all day
Who knows, the Mayor of Valdosta might even be there; what do you think? He certainly gave the festival plenty of earned media.
-jsq
Tuesday, a talk by a fan from Florida of our own Withlacoochee River, at the VSU Student Center, 7:30 9PM 11 September 2012, free admission. -jsq
Big Little Water by Tom Baird, hosted by Blazer Gardens in conjunction with WWALS
Big Little Water—a survey of the history, geology and archaeology of the Withlacoochee River, with replica artifacts people can handle, and slides.
"I'll also get into some of the current threats to the river and maybe we can get into a good discussion and Q&A."
Tom Baird is an education consultant who has previously worked as a high school teacher, community college instructor (oceanography and microbiology), director of a science and environmental center, supervisor of science (K-12) in Pasco Co., FL, Director of Science (PreK-12) in Pinellas Co., FL, Principal of a math/science/technology magnet high school in Pinellas Co., FL. and director of a National Science Foundation program. He is on the boards of the Panhandle Archaeological Society at Tallahassee and the St. Marks Refuge Association. He most enjoys exploring Florida and Georgia rivers by kayak and canoe. He is currently working on a book about the Withlacoochee River of South Georgia and northern Florida.
Address:
VSU Student Union
Oak Street @ Baytree Road
Valdosta GA 31698
Map and Directions
There's also a
facebook invitation.
-jsq
On the day she died, Nobel Prize-winning economist Elinor
Ostrom published
her last article, in Project Syndicate, 12 June 2012,
Green from the Grassroots,
This grassroots diversity in “green policymaking” makes economic sense. “Sustainable cities” attract the creative, educated people who want to live in a pollution-free, modern urban environment that suits their lifestyles. This is where future growth lies. Like upgrading a mobile phone, when people see the benefits, they will discard old models in a flash.
Of course, true sustainability goes further than pollution control. City planners must look beyond municipal limits and analyze flows of resources — energy, food, water, and people — into and out of their cities.
Worldwide, we are seeing a heterogeneous collection of cities interacting in a way that could have far-reaching influence on how Earth's entire life-support system evolves. These cities are learning from one another, building on good ideas and jettisoning poorer ones. Los Angeles took decades to implement pollution controls, but other cities, like Beijing, converted rapidly when they saw the benefits. In the coming decades, we may see a global system of interconnected sustainable cities emerging. If successful, everyone will want to join the club.
And counties, and regions, and watersheds, of course.
As Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio said, there is a
"nexus between sustainability and job creation."
We don't have to wait for San Antonio or Los Angeles or Beijing or
Atlanta to lead the way:
we can get on with it right here where we are.
-jsq
Received Tuesday on Georgia EPD to suspend consideration of some new farm water permit applications 07/30/2012. -jsq
And Southern Company/Georgia Power are still pushing for power plants that waste hundreds of thousands of gallons of water daily (nuclear, biomass)? Water for cooling purposes instead of agriculture? That's about as insane as corn for the production of ethanol instead of feeding people. And how much water do wind mills or solar panels need once they have been installed? About as much as they create problems with air pollution and radioactive waste: zero!
Please note a recent article by George Monbiot on a global crisis caused by investments made in biofuels (e.g. ethanol from corn). To quote from the article (13 August 2012, Hunger Games):
"Already, 40% of US corn (maize) production is used to feed cars(6).The proportion will rise this year as a result of the smaller harvest. Though the market for biodiesel is largely confined to the European Union, it has already captured seven per cent of the world's output of vegetable oil(7). The European Commission admits that its target (10% of transport fuels by 2020) will raise world cereal prices by between 3 and 6%(8). Oxfam estimates that with every 1% increase in the price of food, another 16 million people go hungry."
Where does this leave our "Christian" values as we are obviously more concerned about feeding cars than the hungry?
-Michael G. Noll
-jsq
Apparently the nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle will use more water than the City of Savannah, and more than agricultural uses for the middle Savannah River watershed. Much of the water (3/4?) is evaporated, leaving less for drinking, farming, and everything else. What goes back in the river is rest warmer than it came out, affecting everything that lives in the river. Remind me: why are we building those nukes instead of solar and wind generators, which use no water while producing power?
Plant Vogtle currently uses 43.2 million gallons of water a day, and with all 4 units, is planned to use 86.4 million gallons of water a day, or 2% of the *average* flow of the Savannah River, according to UNC's Powering A Nation journalism team, 9 June 2010.
That's more than the City of Savannah, according to the City of Savannah.
Roy Copeland, President of
100 Black Men of Valdosta, Inc., explained today's annual BBQ.
Here's Part 1 of 2:
17th Annual 100 Black Men BBQ Part 1 of 2:
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 August 2012.
Here's some more video of the food, music, and community at the historic Lowndes County Courthouse today. You've still got about half an hour to get down there.
Here's Part 2 of 2:
Continue reading "17th Annual 100 Black Men BBQ 2012-08-04" »
Increased population is using increasing resources in Lowndes County, Georgia:
Increased population is using increasing resources
Chart by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE) from Georgiainfo data.
| Census | Pop. |
|---|---|
| 1830 | 2,453 |
| 1840 | 5,574 |
| 1850 | 7,714 |
| 1860 | 5,249 |
| 1870 | 8,321 |
| 1880 | 11,049 |
| 1890 | 15,102 |
| 1900 | 20,036 |
| 1910 | 24,436 |
| 1920 | 26,521 |
| 1930 | 29,994 |
| 1940 | 31,860 |
| 1950 | 35,211 |
| 1960 | 49,270 |
| 1970 | 55,112 |
| 1980 | 67,972 |
| 1990 | 75,981 |
| 2000 | 92,115 |
| 2010 | 109,233 |
| Georgiainfo data | |
The population of Georgia has almost tripled during my lifetime, has about doubled since 1970, and has increased 18% in just the ten years from 2000 to 2010. That blip up between 1950 and 1960 is Moody Air Force Base.
That kind of growth doesn't happen without increased resource use. If we want a livable county and region for ourselves and our descendants, we need to think about what we're doing, with water, with transportation, and with energy, not to mention education, jobs, and pretty much everything else. We already cut down and sold off almost all the forests. Now we need better ways than using up all the resources that were here.
Hm, how about some knowledge-based jobs in energy and telecommunications and agriculture?
Speaking of Moody, the U.S. military learned in Afghanistan that shipping oil to places where you can generate solar energy produces a vulnerable supply chain. Moody is already leading in local solar energy. How about we help our base help us help them to move ahead in solar for everybody in Lowndes County and the state of Georgia?
-jsq
Apparently there's trouble at Breadsticks. Candice Choi and Tom Murphy wrote for AP today, Darden's Olive Garden strains for a turnaround,
Darden Restaurants Inc. is struggling to revive sales at its
flagship Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants. A key sales figure fell at the chains during the latest quarter, and the company issued a profit forecast that fell short of Wall Street expectations.
The Orlando, Fla.-based restaurant operator has been reworking the menu and pricing to reverse declining sales at Olive Garden, which is its biggest chain and accounts for almost half its revenue. The 10 percent rise in Darden's net income for the quarter came primarily from the opening of new locations, including those for its smaller specialty chains.
Hm, so they're trying to turn around by opening new restaurants. Yep:
Based on the long-term prospects for its brands, however, the company plans to accelerate growth in its fiscal 2013, with about 100 net new restaurants. The company had 89 more restaurants at the end of the quarter than it did a year earlier.
By the way, you can make the breadsticks yourself.
-jsq
When did state tax policy become a plaything for companies, instead of a source of services for taxpayers? There's a lot of fudging in the T-SPLOST article in the current Georgia Trend. I guess that's not surprising when it's mostly about the viewpoint of the CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Ben Young wrote for Georgia Trend June 2012, Transportation Game Changer: July's statewide referendum will determine Georgia's economic future. There's a lot at stake for all 12 regions.
“The reason our port is the fastest growing is because our road and rail network is so efficient,” says Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic De-velopment, another top RTR advocate. “If Zell Miller and other former administrations hadn't done something to make the port more of a growth engine, we would now have little to no success in advanced manufacturing.”
Yet the rest of the article is all about roads, with little or nothing about rail, except for metro Atlanta and Charlotte as a comparison. Where are the rail projects linking Valdosta to Atlanta and Savannah, or the Valdosta MSA commuter rail or bus system? Nowhere in T-SPLOST.
It is also unclear how Georgia can sustain growth in logistics-related sectors that depend on moving goods quickly and efficiently — sectors believed to be leading us out of the recession — without strengthening the highway network, which has suffered due to lower gas tax revenues. Without an additional tax, there is no way to keep up what we have, much less build anything new, proponents say.
Um, then maybe the governor shouldn't have refused to extend Georgia's gas tax by 8/10 cent (almost as much as proposed the 1 cent T-SPLOST tax, but on gasoline, not on everything including food). And note "believed to be" and "proponents say". Later in the same article:
People are desperate for more transportation funding and the improvements it will bring, but the referendum itself is complex.
Who are these unnamed "people"? The same "proponents" by whom things are "believed to be"? Isn't it wonderful to base tax policy on hearsay?
If Georgia was serious about creating jobs to lead us out of the recession and into a national and world leader, Georgia legislators
Continue reading "Georgia Trend Propagandizes for T-SPLOST" »
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