Friday, March 6, 2009

Sierra Club of Georgia, Coal Plants, Bicycle Power, Red Snapper Ban, Marvin Gaye All On Sustainable Georgia This Weekend



Sustainable Georgia is on the air on GPB Radio Saturday at 12:30p and Sunday at 4:30p after Weekend Georgia Gazette. You can also stream or download on demand here, or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

This week on Earth News we cover Thursday night's public meeting with the Georgia EPD in Sandersville discussing the impact of building new coal-fired Plant Washington. Georgia cyclists rode to the Capital this week to rally in favor of more bike paths and trails and against a state transportation bill that has nothing in it for pedal-powered vehicles. Dave Bender reports. From Savannah comes news that Red Snapper is now forbidden to be fished out of Georgia waters. Orlando Montoya reports on this sustainable seafood story.
Believe it or not, there is a green initiative underway in NASCAR. During this week's visit to Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, the Hall of Fame Racing Team, which runs the 96 Ask.com Ford with driver and former champion Bobby Labonte, announced that they are purchasing carbon offsets to account for the carbon dioxide produced by their team on track and traveling between tracks. Sustainable Georgia dares to ask the question this week--if the good old boys in NASCAR can purchase carbon offsets, then why can't the rest of us?
Our feature interview is with Sierra Club of Georgia Organizer Erin Glynn. Glynn appeared with a Sierra Club group at the Plant Washington meeting in Sandersville, and she talks about the problems with coal plants, the realities of rural economy, and why it's in our best interest to factor in the cost of carbon emissions in anything we do. She also lets you know how to get involved with the local Sierra Club chapter in your community. Go here to find out more.
Marvin Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On was a break from the Motown tradition in many ways, not least of which was the record's topic matter, which included drugs, poverty and the Vietnam War. But most interesting to us is Mercy Mercy Me(The Ecology), which departed from Motown's standard verse-chorus-verse formula musically, and brought soul music and its audience around to the environmental message for the first time. We recycle the song to close out this week's show. Thanks for listening.

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