Spring-Summer 2009 Newsletter
Posted 6.12.09
Help Advance Coastal Georgia’s Sustainability by Supporting Chatham County Recycling
In 2008 a single stream, curbside recycling referendum drive in Savannah pressured the city government to drop their anti-recycling position and actually implement single-stream, curbside recycling throughout Savannah. Although the Chatham County government has given recycling lip service, it seems even less willing than Savannah to actually implement it.
The same tenacious environmentalists who led the Savannah referendum drive have launched a new referendum to expand the recycling benefits now enjoyed by Savannah throughout unincorporated Chatham.
Under the Georgia Constitution, if 10% of Chatham County's registered voters sign the referendum petition, it will force a County-wide vote on the issue. The magic number is 16,000, and the petitioners have already gathered almost 4,000 (May 27, 2009).
If you are a registered Chatham County voter (and that includes all Savannah and small municipality voters), please go to www.recyclechatham.org and sign the petition. Whether you intend to sign or not, we urge you to take a look at the site and consider what you can do to bring effective recycling to your community. We also ask that you share information about this important initiative with your friends and co-workers.
Posted 5.30.09
Climate Change and the Hazards of Coastal Development
Climate change is widely recognized as a major factor that is already affecting all coastlines worldwide. As impacts of global warming continue to be monitored by scientists, projected rise in the elevation of sea level justifies increasing concern about coastal development, especially near shorelines. Based on the most recent data on polar ice melting caused by warmer temperatures, the rate of rising oceans appears to be increasing. Fifteen years ago, ocean rise was predicted to be less than a foot a century and now the average 100-year projection is triple that. As warming continues, sea levels are likely to rise further in the coming decade. And along with rising oceans, more intense coastal storms, flooding, and wind-driven surges are expected, too.
Building near shores and marshes has always had risks, but these hazards are becoming significantly greater. We at the Center for a Sustainable Coast urge coastal residents, developers, and public officials to consider these factors as they affect the interests of Georgians as both property owners and tax payers. For example, spending millions of dollars of state funds to support private shorefront development at Jekyll Island State Park raises serious questions about the justification for such investments.
Please see Erosion Threatens Barrier Islands by ABC News, featuring examples from Jekyll Island. We urge you to share this information with your friends and colleagues.
Posted 5.27.09
Sustainable Coast E. D. Interviewed on Georgia Public Radio
The Center's executive director, David Kyler, was interviewed by Rob Maynard, host of Georgia Public Radio's
environmental issues program, Sustainable Georgia. The interview was first aired on the February 14 program, which can be
heard by going to the website http://www.gpb.org/gogreen and clicking on the appropriate selection in the lower right corner.
We urge you to listen to the informative interview. Please call or email the Center for more information on related topics.
Posted 2.17.09
Center Submits a Suggestion to the Obama Administration The Center's executive director joined thousands of Americans who are submitting
suggestions via the Internet to the Obama Administration for further consideration.
Here is the brief recommendation submitted by David Kyler, executive director:
Numerous federal programs work at cross-purposes in their effects on energy, environment,
and climate change. All such programs should be screened, reformed, coordinated and closely
monitored through
a presidential advisory board created for this purpose.
Programs of interest include not only those on energy and environment, but others like:
Coastal Zone Management - to prepare for sea level rise and avoid added storm hazards
Funds
for
infrastructure to achieve land use advantages for reducing carbon emissions
Flood insurance,
flood prevention, and flood protection to discourage growth in high-risk areas
Tax policies
as
incentives for conservation, efficiency
Budgeting criteria in federal spending
(no funds allocated unless the proposed activity is consistent with goals for climate change,
energy & environment)
If you would like to review other submittals, vote on them, or
submit one of your own, go to www.suggestions4obama.com.
For more information, please call the Center at 912-638-3612.
Posted 2.11.09
Nuclear power bad on so many levels. "After 60 years and many billions of dollars in government subsidies,
nuclear power should finally have to prove
itself on its own merits - which evidently it cannot do in a free market." The Center's Executive Director article published in The Atlanta Journal
Constitution November, 2008.) ...more Offshore Oil is a Deceptive Distraction. The Center's Executive Director issues a
statement in response to proposals to develop offshore oil resources along the U.S. East Coast.
[Note: A portion of this commentary was published as a guest column in the op-ed section of The Atlanta Journal
Constitution on July 3, 2008.) ...more Jekyll Island: How Much is Too Much? The
Center's summary of the current situation with Jekyll Island Redevelopment, from the Spring-Summer 2008
issue of the Center's newsletter. [Note: To receive a copy of the newsletter by mail or email, please contact
the Center at 912-638-3612.]...more Center & Executive Director Honored by Common Cause Georgia
The Center's executive director was among those honored at Common Cause Georgia's
annual Democracy Awards Dinner in Atlanta on April 27. Common Cause is a national
non-partisan good government advocacy group dedicated to holding power accountable.
Common Cause presented the award to David Kyler for the Centerís efforts to strengthen
Georgia's tidal marsh protection through an appeal of the marsh permit issued by DNR
for the Cumberland Harbour project in St. Marys, Georgia...more Jekyll Island Redevelopment Survey and Issues...more
Resolution and Petition for Action on Climate Change in Georgia
Georgia remains one of the few coastal states that has not made a commitment to protecting its citizens
and our future with a Climate Change Action Plan. (See www.pewclimate.org.)
The Center for a Sustainable Coast has taken the initiative to get Georgia on track by preparing a public
petition urging Governor Perdue and our state legislators to support the adoption of such a plan as soon as possible.
We urge all concerned Georgians to print, sign, circulate, and return a copy of this petition to the Center as soon as possible.
Hundreds of Georgians have already signed, but more signatures are needed. For more information, please call the Center at
(912)638-3612. Click for Petition
The Center for a Sustainable Coast was formed in 1997 by a group of public-spirited environmental professionals and concerned citizens.
The purpose of our non-profit membership organization is to improve the responsible use, protection, and conservation of coastal Georgia's resources - natural, historic, and economic.
We envision a region where the environmental
interests of all existing and
future Georgians are properly represented in decisions that affect them.
The Center believes that the public deserves the best possible protection of our environmental interests and quality of life,
while enjoying responsible use of this region's diverse natural resources.
Join the Center & Help Sustain
Coastal Georgia's Quality of Life
What We Do & Why Your Help is So Important!
Our work involves five essential kinds of activity.
All of these are needed to ensure the most effective
use of information to advance stewardship and
understanding of coastal Georgia's resources in
the face of rapid growth.
Educate coastal communities, voters, landowners, and
elected officials about the conditions and trends of coastal
Georgia's environment – natural, cultural, and economic.
Collaborate with other groups in advising citizens and
interest groups about threats and opportunities relevant to
safeguarding coastal resources and the many businesses
that depend on them.
Advise decision-makers and stakeholders about existing
and potential economic value of nature-based business and jobs.
Advocate
legislation and scientific research vital to improving
the accountability and reliability of decisions significantly affecting
the coastal environment.
Take legal action, as needed, to prevent or control unwise
activities threatening the quality, capacity, or diversity of our
region's resources.
Your support is essential to the Center's activities
- without it, we cannot continue our work.
Please take a moment now to send us your tax-deductible
contribution using the enclosed return envelope.
Our efforts are devoted to improving public policy and
environmental awareness so that future generations
can enjoy the natural beauty and life-sustaining benefits
of Georgia's coastal region.
Note: Your name and support are considered confidential unless you ask to be acknowledged
in our newsletter.
Staff & Working
Contributors
David
Kyler Executive Director
Helen Alexander
Administrative Assistant
Board of
Directors
Charlie
Belin PhD Environmental
Educator and Marine Biologist
Les Davenport PhD Ecologist, Professor of Biology
Armstrong Atlantic State University (retired)
Jim
Henry PhD Coastal Geologist (retired) Founder of the Applied Coastal Research Lab,
Georgia Southern University
Peter Krull Socially responsible financial service provider
Charles Seabrook Environmental Journalist and Author
Award-winning Columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Willis Environmental Activist, Management Analyst (retired)
Advisors
Alan Bailey
Local Landowner & Forestlands
Manager
Melissa Booth PhD Research Scientist and Assistant Director
University of Georgia Marine Institute
Paul Glenn Consultant
Kyla
Hastie Communications Coordinator U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service
Barrett
King Public
Administrator
Mitch
King U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service
Ron
Kneib, PhD Senior Marine
Research Scientist University of Georgia Marine
Institute
Rick
Krause Hydrologist, Retired, U.S. Geological Survey
Jim
Reichard, PhD Hydrogeologist Georgia Southern University
Fred Rich, PhD
Geologist Georgia
Southern University
Peter Verity, PhD
Professor and Education Coordinator Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
Altamaha River ~ Wayne/Long
County, Georgia
Your support is needed to help the Center - If you
haven't already, won't you please join us today?
Make a tax-deductible donation to the Center
on-line through our non-profit partner, Network for
Good, by clicking on their icon below (Note: this
link is secured for your protection.)
With your support, we will continue promoting new policies to help redefine "progress" in coastal Georgia.
Reconsidering the goals and standards that determine how our vital natural resources will be used, conserved, and protected is a continuous process.
This reassessment is more urgent under several current trends, which are combining to produce long-term impacts. Consider the following:
Population of Georgia's coastal region will double to more than one million within 30 years. On average, that will be at least 16,500 more people every year demanding housing,
water, roads and land in this environmentally fragile and naturally beautiful place we call home. Rapidly developing upriver areas of Georgia are also imposing ever-greater threats on downstream areas.
Good environmental science is not always used to support more reliable protection of our precious natural resources.
To address this problem, the Center is working to (1) promote funding and use of new research needed to improve decisions affecting our environment, (2) introduce scientific expertise into the review of environmental permits,
(3) prevent premature permitting by thoroughly analyzing risks before permits are issued, when threats to resources are potentially significant, and (4) place the burden of proof on resource users.
Nature-based businesses are a major economic force in coastal Georgia, although some segments are in decline, largely due to environmentally disruptive, negligent land uses and related activities.
The Center is an essential voice in advocating protection of some 40,000 jobs supported by seafood processing, fishing, tourism, and recreation.
These jobs depend directly on the diversity and health of coastal ecosystems. We oppose unwise activities threatening water quality, air quality, and ecosystems that are indispensible to both nature-based businesses and public health. And we promote innovative policies that balance environmental and economic objectives
to serve the broad public interest.
We express
our utmost gratitude to all those who have shared their views and
funding resources with the Center since our establishment in June,
1997.
The board, advisors, and staff look forward to your growing
involvement. We invite you to become more actively engaged in the
Center's work as a volunteer, advocate, and contributor.
Note:
Membership information is protected by our policy of
confidentiality, and contact information about our members is never
disclosed unless approved in advance by members.
All Wildlife
Illustrations on this site are protected by copyright of Jennifer
Smith, Artist ~ All Rights Reserved
The Center is grateful to the following foundations for the their financial
support over the past year:
- Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation
- R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation
- Patagonia, Environmental Programs
- M. K. Pentecost Ecology Fund, Savannah Presbytery
- The Sapelo Foundation
- Sea Island Foundation
- The Turner Foundation, Georgia River Network Small Grant Program
We also express our thanks to scores of generous individuals, families, and
businesses who have made tax-deductible donations to the Center. This year
our average donation is over $200, but any amount contributed is greatly
appreciated.
