Couple of things
- I must say, it's been a pretty good weekend. Georgia beats Florida in impressive fashion and then the Red Sox capture their second world championship in four years. I'm more than just a little emotionally spent, but it was worth it for, quite possibly, the greatest two days of sports in my life.
- In this post by Don Nelson on gray water, Blake offers an explanation on why the state has banned gray water, which I understand but don't necessarily go along with. For instance, aren't you 'screwing the guy downstream' no matter what? It isn't as if you're using any additional water, but rather re-using water you would normally use anyway.
- I agree ... in the short-term, but event tourism is a legitimate way to bring about economic development and is worthy of investment.
- Everyone knows how bad the drought is going to hurt our economy, but this article really puts it into perspective and does an excellent job of connecting all the dots. It shows how interconnected our economy really is and how one thing can disrupt a great many. It is good to see how local businesses are committed to conserving.
- This is awful. My family has a home at Ocean Isle, N.C., and I know where 'Changing Channels' is. Let's keep the families of these students in our thoughts and prayers.
- Also, kudos to the Athens Banner-Herald for putting out their new forum section. I finally got to see it when I picked up a copy of the paper yesterday. It looks good and had plenty of good reads.
- In other baseball news, A-Rod opted out of his contract with the Yankees, which will probably further trigger an exodus of players there. Peter Gammons called him out, which was impressive, by saying it showed a lack of respect for the game to announce this during the World Series and that buyers should beware of him.
- It wasn't disrespectful, just awesome.
- And finally, new lawyer Tim's wife Carrie now has a blog. She's got a poll on the best horror movie series. I voted for C.H.U.D.
- In this post by Don Nelson on gray water, Blake offers an explanation on why the state has banned gray water, which I understand but don't necessarily go along with. For instance, aren't you 'screwing the guy downstream' no matter what? It isn't as if you're using any additional water, but rather re-using water you would normally use anyway.
- I agree ... in the short-term, but event tourism is a legitimate way to bring about economic development and is worthy of investment.
- Everyone knows how bad the drought is going to hurt our economy, but this article really puts it into perspective and does an excellent job of connecting all the dots. It shows how interconnected our economy really is and how one thing can disrupt a great many. It is good to see how local businesses are committed to conserving.
- This is awful. My family has a home at Ocean Isle, N.C., and I know where 'Changing Channels' is. Let's keep the families of these students in our thoughts and prayers.
- Also, kudos to the Athens Banner-Herald for putting out their new forum section. I finally got to see it when I picked up a copy of the paper yesterday. It looks good and had plenty of good reads.
- In other baseball news, A-Rod opted out of his contract with the Yankees, which will probably further trigger an exodus of players there. Peter Gammons called him out, which was impressive, by saying it showed a lack of respect for the game to announce this during the World Series and that buyers should beware of him.
- It wasn't disrespectful, just awesome.
- And finally, new lawyer Tim's wife Carrie now has a blog. She's got a poll on the best horror movie series. I voted for C.H.U.D.
posted by Jmac at 6:22 AM
10 Comments:
"For instance, aren't you 'screwing the guy downstream' no matter what? It isn't as if you're using any additional water, but rather re-using water you would normally use anyway."
No. If you use the water on your flowers it just goes into the ground and/ or evaporates; if it goes down your sink it goes back into the water system and is treated downstream for someone to drink.
Fair enough, though it's possible for it not to be reused say if you drink the water or cook with it.
here's one for Blake to go ballistic over....
Growth is the problem. If Athens didn't have to accomadate the 30,000 communists who have moved here since 1979, we'd have plenty of water. Shoot, I reckon to say we'd be using 30% less water without conserving.
heh heh
It just wasn't the same without Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore on the field.
At the very least, I hope we now get a sequel to this.
That's hitting below the belt Josh.
I don't understand the jab at bass fishing nor do I get JT's glee at the contraction of a program to beautify and create more access to the state's lakes. Fishing and other outdoor activities produce income, raise enviormental awareness and attrack visitors to the state.
Sure, I think the timing is a tad bit funny but overall this editorial is worthless.
jms
There is a certain school of editorial writing that holds that just criticizing is sufficient. It's that which allows the same op-ed writer who criticized Bush 41 for not taking out Saddam to criticize Bush 43 for taking out Saddam; it's why the same op-ed writer can bash Bush for not going to New Orleans after Katrina and then criticize him for going to California during the fires.
It's that which allows op-ed writers to criticize a local government for not having a plan, then criticize them when they formulate a plan, then criticize the plan itself.
It's a line of work that requires only the ability to write, an overrated ability if ever there was one. There is no responsibility and even less accountability.
For the ultimate rebuttal to anything any op-ed writer ever wrote, watch the final few minutes of the otherwise forgettable and historically regrettable "Inherit the Wind," and catch the can of whup ass the Clarence Darrow character opens on the H.L. Mencken character.
Well, I agree that Inherit the Wind was 'historically regrettable', and I agree about many opinionists, but watch what you say about Mencken!
"Fair enough, though it's possible for it not to be reused say if you drink the water or cook with it.'
except if you do the former it eventually ends up back in the system via your toilet (usually!)and then the treatment plant (how many sets of kidneys water has passed through before I drink it is not something I generally like to ponder!), and if you do the latter it also either ends up back in the toilet via various means (leave to your imagination) after consumption or ends up down the sink if you are using it to, say, wash vegetable :-)
I wonder how long it will take those green businesses to start selling things that could help us, like rain barrels and cisterns.
I've been looking online, and it's ridiculous, the prices are in the hundreds of dollars.
Perhaps gutter installers, contractors, plumbers, green businesses, and other small, locally owned businesses could start adapting, already.
A 50 gallon plastic bucket w/a spicket in the bottom, screen on top and 10$ flexible downspout and overflow valve, as well as a hand pump to move the water around as needed between barrels shouldn't be hundreds of dollars a piece, thousands of dollars for a 1350 square foot house.
I am replacing my gutters, w/the covered kind, 6 inches wide, and it's a great opportunity to get a rainbarrel system going.
But I may not be able to afford to install them! Not everyone lives in a "just charge it" world, so I wonder, who will be the first businesses in Athens to embrace the new real economic reality of the drought?
I have places for several rain barrels, and would like to put a "grow window" on the sunny side of my house, too, so I can bring in some of my plants in for the winter, without my cats killing themselves by sampling all of them.
I can only imagine the joy of a little grow window, in the middle of winter, so, again, who's making these? Who's installing them?
I'm asking, here, not criticizing, I know these changes have come around real fast, and it's got to be hard to think outside the box for the businesses that are feeling this the worst.
But if you have sources, LOCAL, especially, since I prefer to boost our own economy and to reward the businesses that are adapting, then post them here or email me, PLEASE, at acuagal@yahoo.com.
Let's promote the businesses we find that are doing this. I know most of us aren't doing this level of remodeling on our homes right now, but these businesses have all winter to get up to speed and get the inventory in stock, as well as train their folks to help install the systems. In fact, maybe some really enterprising businesses could get some sort of systems in stock in time to catch whatever winter rain we get this year.
It could mean the difference between survival and failure for not only businesses, but their employees, and for us, homeowners new and old, who are trying our best to adapt.
I would also love to see local nurseries selling sturdy, drought tolerant native plants and trees. There are ways to plant them (in this prime planting season) in bags that either hold those water keeper pellets, or release the water gradually to the roots.
Then we would be killing two birds w/one stone, planting sustainable herbs and perennials, and keeping the beauty of Athens intact, or at least alive.
I could just cry as I drive around neighborhoods that take such pride in their yards, some have invested years and thousands in their efforts, and they're just withering up.
It's especially heartbreaking in the low income neighborhood I own my home in, when I bought a year and a half ago, there were huge roses, daylillies, beautiful perennial borders, and mixed gardens where companion thrive alongside veggies... (think marigolds, basils w/maters, onions and garlic in amongst more vulnerable plants as insect repellants, etc.)
So, help, please! Let's make a list here, or if you'll send me emails about folks you know who are doing these things, I'll put them together and send them to JMAC, who could post them here.
Not as advertising, and not with any endorsements implied, but just as a resource for those of us who are really trying to do the next right thing. Or if JMAC doesn't want to do it, I'll put it together and send it in as a letter to the editor.
thanks!
aquariusrizing
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