Why is Gatlinburg such a popular destination?

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]]> http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/09/05/green-weddings-in-gatlinburg-part-1/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/08/26/back-to-school-week-grade-schools-nationwide-go-green/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/08/26/back-to-school-week-grade-schools-nationwide-go-green/#comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:51:43 +0000 Shirley Siluk Gregory http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/08/26/back-to-school-week-grade-schools-nationwide-go-green/ While the greening efforts of U.S. colleges and universities seem to capture the most media attention, elementary schools across the country are no slouches when it comes to eco-action.

Look at what’s happening at some of these schools:

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]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/08/26/back-to-school-week-grade-schools-nationwide-go-green/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/07/30/tennessee-takes-electric-initiative/ http://gas2.org/2008/07/30/tennessee-takes-electric-initiative/#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:27:11 +0000 Anthony Cefali http://gas2.org/2008/07/30/tennessee-takes-electric-initiative/ The electric motor movement continues to rev its lithium powered engine in the face of high gas prices.  Nissan announced its ambitious partnership with the state of Tennessee to better understand how to make the US an electric nation.

Last week, Nissan Motors announced a partnership with the state of Tennessee to study what transportation framework will be required to integrate electric cars into the global transportation economy.  Nissan hopes that the study will provide insight that will allow them to market their electric cars globally by the year 2012.

What Nissan lacks in hybrid technology, they are attempting making up for with electric foresight (Nissan has some smaller, more efficient cars, but none have hybrid technology).  The company is banking on a high demand for zero emission vehicles and has taken the necessary steps to facilitate the use of electric vehicles.  Nissan recently announced they will sell electric cars in the US in 2010 with plans for another electric vehicle to be globally released in 2012. There will be no backup combustion engines in any of Nissan’s electric vehicles.

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Carbon neutral is gaining popularity these days, but Mantria Corporation is taking it a step further.

“We pledge Mantria Place will be the first carbon negative community in the nation by 2011,” states Troy Wragg, Mantria Corporation Chairman and CEO. “Carbon neutral is simply not good enough given today’s environmental issues. At Mantria, we believe that we must go much further to truly help our planet. Our goal is to be carbon negative.”

Located in Sequatchie County, Tennessee,  Mantria Place will be Tennessee’s largest master planned community weighing it at 5,500 acres. Nearly half of that will be green space in addition to two championship golf courses. A big question looms: can new, luxurious development really be green? With luxuries like two golf courses, how can their carbon footprint make it below par? Mr. Troy Wragg was kind enough to speak with me to answer that very question.

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The four-day camping festival, held annually in Manchester, Tennessee, since 2002 has grabbed accolades galore just for the great variety of performers it attracts (this year’s lineup includes everyone from Pearl Jam, Chris Rock, Kanye West and B.B. King to Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Willie Nelson and Janeane Garofalo). But it’s taken increasingly awesome steps each year to green the event onstage and off, and this year is no exception.

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Set for April 10 - 12, “Energy and Responsibility” will feature presentations by, among others, Robert Socolow, the Princeton professor who helped develop the concept of “stabilization wedges” to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and curb climate change.

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Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield’s response was to proclaim today, Wednesday, Feb. 27, “Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day” (GOGFADD?). To observe the day, Littlefield is dispatching his aide Matt Lea — in a coonskin cap, no less — to deliver a truckload of bottled water to Atlanta.

The proclamation creating GOGFADD has already itself been widely proclaimed as priceless. Judge for yourself:

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I-3 Update:

After years of political maneuvering and bureaucratic mire, 1.3 million dollars have been allocated to study possible routes for I-3. Even this seemingly small step has not gone without controversy or contention. Paul Broun of Georgia campaigned against I-3 last year and won a seat in the House of Representatives, affirming,”I am totally against I-3. I would like to de-fund the study” on June 29, 2007. Safely elected, today he sings a different tune; he favors the road but not in his home state: ”There are always environmental impacts from a highway, but it would be much less on the South Carolina side than on the Georgia side.” But even before Broun’s turn around, local opposition has been fierce in Georgia.

“In a town hall meeting in Hiawassee on May 24th 2005, 650 people showed up to voice an overwhelming opposition to the project. Then on June 7th in Rabun County, 178 citizens applauded and gave a standing ovation to the Rabun County Commissioner’s unanimous opposition to the proposed interstate through the north Georgia mountains.”

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The states have been squabbling for years, and the situation only grew worse as last year’s drought drove levels at Lake Lanier — Atlanta’s main water supply — perilously low. When that happened, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue did more than pray for rain (though he did that, too): he asked the feds to let his state hold back more water in its reservoirs rather than maintain federally mandated river flows into Alabama and Florida.

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by Ecotality blogger Bill Hobbs

Sign seen in front of Al Gore's mansion in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville Thursday, indicating Gore is moving forward with plans for solar panels to help power his mansion. Here's a link to the the Belle Meade Board of Zoning Appeals meeting agenda - there are no details on the size of the solar panels, how much power they'll generate, or whether or not they'll be tied into the grid via a "net metering" arrangement so Gore can sell excess power to the grid through a "net metering" arrangement.

Tennessee is not a mandatory "net metering" state, though the local electric utility that serves Gore's house does offer the option for customers who generate their own power. But Nashville Electric Service does offer the Tennessee Valley Authority's "Generation Partners" program, which purchases customer-generated power from solar panels or wind turbines at a rate of 15 cents per kilowatt hour.

No word on whether Gore himself will be at the zoning board meeting to make the case for why he should be allowed to put solar panels on his house.

I've given Gore a lot of well-deserved grief - on this blog over his use of "carbon offsets" to present himself as "carbon neutral" even as he continues to consume large quantities of carbon-based energy, but he deserves praise for trying now to "walk the walk" and live the way he has long urged others to live in terms of using clean, renewable energy.