Peach Bites

Georgia Tech Makes the Honor Roll - The Princeton Review has named Georgia Tech to its Green College Honor Roll.  Georgia Tech is the only university in the region to make the list and strikingly absent is Emory University which has more LEED certified buildings than any campus in the nation. MNN

Suniva May Go Public - The Norcross based solar company is considering going public.  They have raised $75M in private funding and are looking for more. The company has obtained over $1 billion in orders. Atlanta Business Chronicle

Atlanta Ranks 33rd in Sustainability - The NRDC recently released rankings of the most sustainable cities in the US.  The west coast came out on top with Seattle winning the #1 spot and San Francisco and Portland close behind.  Roswell was 23rd on the smaller cities list.  Creative Loafing

Help For Our Right Whales - New technology may help ships avoid collisions with whales.  This will help the dwindling population of right whales that breed off the coast of Georgia.  TreeHugger

They'll Call it HotterLanta Soon - I hate the silly name of Hot-Lanta that our city picked up in the 90s but it is appropriate now and will be later this century if predictions are correct.  A report released recently on the potential impacts of global warming states that average temperatures in the 2080s will likely be 4.5 to 9 degrees hotter.  Macon.com

The Drought is Over

image courtesy of Brian Hursey
 
It was announced yesterday that the three year-old drought is finally over. This is fantastic news for the city of Atlanta. However, Lake Lanier is still about 9 feet below full pool.  Additionall rain this week should help that out.

The one thing we should all take away from the severity of this drought is how quickly we can get into trouble. I am hoping that the water conservation efforts don't fall by the wayside given this news. In the past 18 months, the city of Atlanta has dropped it's water use by more than 20% according to the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Management District.  I think we can do better and it is important that we try since we are a growing city and the largest major city with the smallest water supply.

So, even though this is great news, everyone needs to stay vigilant with their conservation efforts. See the WaterSense website for ways to conserve in your household.

Last Reminder

Last reminder. Earth Hour is almost here. Don't forget to turn off all non essential lighting for one hour beginning at 830 tonight. The city of Atlanta is a flagship city this year and we can all help make a statement tonight. Last year we cut power usage by about four percent during earth hour. I bet we will do better this year.

Earth Hour 2009 in Atlanta

Earth Hour is organized by the World Wildlife Fund and its mission is to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions. The ongoing campaign is held on the last Saturday of March.

it begain in Sydney in 2007 and it gained global attention last year with 35 flagship cities and 400 participating cities. To participate, you can sign up on the Earth Hour website. By doing so, you are committing to turning off non-essential lights and electric appliances for one hour. This year there are over 750 cities world wide that have signed up.

By the way, 101 buildings have signed up in metro Atlanta. Look for another reminder soon.

Take the Slate/TreeHugger Energy Challenge

We may have missed the boat on this green contest/challenge but we still feel that it is worth talking about.  Two months ago, Slate and TreeHugger teamed up to create a voluntary challenge that would spur average people to cut their CO2 emmissions by making commitments and taking steps that would lead to a reduction of energy use and thus cut emissions.  The challenge ended last week but is still open to anyone who wants to take it. 

More than 30,000 people signed up for the challenge and together pleged to reduce emissions by 60 million pounds of CO2.  Unfortunately only 1,373 people took the wrap up quiz but out of that group, they claim to have cut their emissions by 9 million pounds already.  I'd call that a substantial success.

So, if you would like to test your carbon reducing skills and have the fortitude to stick with it, sign up and take the challenge yourself.  You won't get the free t-shirt but you will make your small contribution to what is quite possibly the worlds most pressing problem.

Link to Challenge