Archive for Environment
Friday Reading and Open Thread
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve seen so many things to share with you, gentle readers. They’re after the jump. More importantly, I want to know what you’ve seen that you’d like to share with the world. It’s your thread.
Wednesday Potpourri
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There’s exciting doings all over the place, and this Councilman/Counselor can’t find time to properly blog about it all. Who wants to pay me to do this stuff full time?
The irascible ThunderPig reports that Dan Eichenbaum (R-Tetley), founder of the area’s 9/12 group, won another straw poll of Republicans, this time in Cherokee County. Dr. Dan hopes to face Heath Shuler this November.
Speaking of Heath Shuler, he closed the deal on the North Shore Road. That means Swain County will receive $52 million in compensation for a road never completed. Somehow Charles Taylor, who was an Appropriations Committee member for years, couldn’t ever get it done. Kudos, Congressman Shuler.
In other Congressional race news, Virginia Foxx, the woman who always has one eye on the kookier wing of the GOP, has drawn a challenger in NC-05. “Billy Kennedy, a Watauga County talk radio host and community leader, will formally announce his candidacy on February 8 for the U.S. House of Representatives, 5th District of North Carolina. The “Billy Kennedy Caravan” will stretch from Boone to Raleigh that day, with stops in Wilkesboro and Winston-Salem.”
Ellie Johnston attended the Copenhagen climate conference and has a thorough narrative of her experience there. Excerpt:
Friday Reading
Posted by: | CommentsWhy cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race. – via @sandymaxey on the Twitter.
Decline Radio has a list of 10 things that could have finally put Asheville on the national music map – via Mtn. X.
“Asheville’s East End Circa 1968,” a historical photography exhibition by Asheville artist Andrea Clark, is on view through February 26 in UNC Asheville’s Blowers Gallery” – via Ashvegas
There was a terrible wreck on Riverview Drive this week, and Felicity at Hangover Journals had a front row seat. Since then, I’ve been getting contacted asking for traffic calming measures on that street, which unfortunately connects Haywood Road to Amboy Road. I’ve asked for the traffic study data for the road, and I’ll update the neighborhood as soon as I know more.
Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, Republican candidate for Congress, says of the Supreme Court ruling on corporate election spending – “The Constitution and Freedom Wins!” – via Thunder Pig’s Twitter feed.
Core values of the The Bountiful Cities Project at Short Street Cakes.
Steep Slope Death Run
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©2009 David Cohen • david@cohencidents.com
City Planning – Seeing The Elephant
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And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
The photo you see here is from the 1922 Nolen Plan for the City of Asheville Parks system. Click on it to have a closer look. I received it from the Asheville Design Center’s Joe Minnicozzi. Joe writes about city planning in an email, published with his permission.
There is a lot to learn from this drawing. For one, there are a lot of ideas that were accomplished in this drawing, new streets in particular. What’s telling to me is the history of Cities over the last 100 years. Nolen was promoting a new profession called “City Planning” in the teens and twenties of the last century. That profession came out of architecture. At that same time another profession, landscape architecture, also emerged out of architecture. Basically, there was an understanding that design should encompass the scale of the city. Incidentally, the grandson of the fellow that brought Nolen to Asheville is on the advisory council of the Design Center.
Thinking Outside The Service Economy Box
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Citizen-Times January 14:
$800,000 in stimulus funds go to Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries to help train 600 workers for green jobs
Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries will get $800,000 in federal stimulus funds to help train up to 600 workers for jobs weatherizing homes, installing solar panels and helping produce biodiesel fuel.
The jobs could pay $9 to $14 an hour. Sounds great. Now, show me the jobs and show me the money.
Everyone wants to transform the economy with “green” jobs. But so far the term is mostly a trendy, feel-good catchphrase. Few people can tell you what a green job is, how to count them, or what makes one job green and not another.
The Christian Science Monitor asks, “Are all workers at an automaker green if a few of them make hybrid cars? Does the janitor’s position at a wind-turbine factory count as a green job? What about the urban planner who designs a mass transit system one year and a strip mall the next?” The problem is, the Des Moines Register notes, “There is no national definition of green jobs.” For Ashevillians, a green job means installing weather stripping or solar panels, as the AC-T lede suggests. So, that’s it?
Job Growth and Energy Independence
Posted by: | CommentsVice Mayor Brownie Newman will present the Asheville Energy Independence Initiative Tuesday night at our City Council meeting. You can get a flavor for the program by having a look at this nifty Powerpoint:
I’m 100% behind this initiative. Highlighted in my campaign again and again, this program will allow voluntary retrofitting of homes and businesses without the up front cost to the consumer. It will create jobs, reduce energy use, and save people money. It’ll be revenue neutral or better for the City, meaning it’ll pay for itself. If you’re in favor of implementing this fantastic opportunity, please spread the word.
Devise Your Conservation Strategy and Get a Cheap Energy Audit
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Mtn. X:
Administered by the Buncombe County Cooperative Extension, the program aims to help local residents stay warmer for less money — starting with a Thursday, Jan. 21, workshop that qualifies attendees for discounted home-energy audits.
Residents who complete the workshop qualify for a price cut: If your home is 2,000 square feet or less in size and more than 5 years old, you may be eligible for an audit that costs $100, normally a $350 service.
[...]
“You must attend the E-Conservation workshop to receive the subsidized energy audit. Pre-registration for the workshop is necessary, as space is limited. To register, call 255-5522. The extension office, part of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, is located at 94 Coxe Avenue. The workshop starts at 5:30 p.m.”
Green Infrastructure – Stream Buffers
Posted by: | CommentsComing up to the January 12th meeting of Asheville City Council, you’re going to start hearing more about stream buffers and how wide they ought to be. Stream buffers help to mitigate the negative effects of stormwater runoff. Pull on your learnin’ cap, and follow me down a fascinating path that has profound implications for Asheville’s future.
Want Not Waste Not
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Since my first foray into the world of Sunday Morning Music seemed to go over like a wet fart in church, I submit for your consideration this juicy bit passed along by loyal reader Monica over at the blogalicious Cucina Naturale. Maybe it’ll be enough to get your vinyl panties in a wad. Scary stuff.
From the Organic Consumers Association’s website:
Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina
One of the most lethal patches of ground in North America is located in the backwoods of North Carolina, where Shearon Harris nuclear plant is housed and owned by Progress Energy. The plant contains the largest radioactive waste storage pools in the country. It is not just a nuclear-power-generating station, but also a repository for highly radioactive spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants. The spent fuel rods are transported by rail and stored in four densely packed pools filled with circulating cold water to keep the waste from heating. The Department of Homeland Security has marked Shearon Harris as one of the most vulnerable terrorist targets in the nation…
Source & text of full article at Project Censored
