Category Archives: Activism

Organizing and activism —Seth Gunning

This comment from Seth Gunning came in today. -jsq
Speaking About organizing & activism- We can make them dichotomous, in order to speak about them more distinctly; but my intent (in the comment turned blog-post) was not to insinuate that the two are anti-thetical or opposing to one another in many ways at all.

That is not to say, though, that the work of one doesn’t clearly look much different from the work of the other.

I hesitate to use metaphor, because while they might be good heuristic learning tools, they too often are or become justificatory and prevent us from communicating clearly.

I will refer instead to this narrative, the basis of what I was attempting to communicate about my perception between the differences in activism work (all good and well) and organizing. http://beyondthechoir.org/diary/51/activism-vs-organizing-reflections-on-gramsci-pt2

-Seth Gunning

High-Voltage Grid of the Future — Daniel E. Frank

No new grid is needed to profit by becoming electrical generators on your own rooftops, but with a smarter grid south Georgia can export power to Atlanta and beyond.

I found this over in NO COAL PLANT IN BEN HILL COUNTY! with this comment by Dan Corrie:

This Georgia Tech announcement emphasizes how quickly technology is changing toward healthier energy production and away from coal. I would hate to see our South Georgia stuck with a contaminating, health-harming coal plant for 50 years while so much progress would be going on during that time.
The article by Daniel E. Frank dated 18 May 2011 appears on a law firm’s page, Georgia Tech Clean Energy Speaker Series: “High-Voltage Grid of the Future”: Continue reading →

MAGE SOLAR forging ahead in south Georgia

Valdosta and Lowndes County are not the only places with sunshine in south Georgia, and Albany and Dougherty County are perhaps already more organized.

Danny Carter wrote in the Albany Herald 14 May 2011, Solar power meeting set: A solar power conference is scheduled for Tuesday in Albany.

MAGE SOLAR, looking for both customers and installers, is hosting a program at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Albany Civic Center.

Susanne Fischer Quinn, communications manager for MAGE SOLAR, said there are just 13 certified installers of solar panels in Georgia.

The opportunity for growth in this area is tremendous, she said. Tuesday’s program will open with remarks by Jeff Sinyard, chairman of the Dougherty County Commission, and Albany City Commissioner Roger Marietta

Then, a panel of representatives from MAGE, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Georgia will present information about solar power in Georgia.

We already did a smaller version of this, but what have we done since? Continue reading →

Renewable Energy Network at Opportunity Central

Renewable energy for jobs: that’s something that would interest a Chamber of Commerce.

Partly due to MAGE SOLAR at Lowndes High School (thanks, Jerome Tucker!), the Valdosta – Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC) has taken an interest in renewable energy. ReKasa Deen, Business Development Director, already heads the Chamber’s Opportunity Central:

The Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber is positioning Metro Valdosta as Opportunity Central with opportunities for business to grow and thrive, career opportunities for well-educated young professionals and opportunities for cultural interests and active lifestyles.

The key phrase I keep hearing from VLCoC president Myrna Ballard is “knowledge-based businesses and jobs.” As it says on a recent Opportunity Central blog post:

New jobs follow bright and creative professionals…
Ms. Ballard and Ms. Deen have repeatedly said they see renewable energy as a source of jobs for graduates of our local high schools and colleges.

What do they mean by renewable energy? Continue reading →

A key to community organizing work —Seth Gunning

This comment by Seth Gunning came in on the backfire effect and how to leapfrog it. -jsq
Great article John. Thanks for turning me onto the research presented here, I’ll be looking into and using it. I’d also suggest a book called “Breakthrough: from the death of environmentalism to the politics of possibility”. I think you will love it.

Beyond changing the messaging on signs, which I think is a great idea, I think what the research reflects is a fundamental change in the approach to the work.

A key to community organizing work, as opposed to activism,

Continue reading →

VLCIA meeting right now and this evening

Skipping in to the Industrial Authority office to file an open records request, I noticed all five board members in the board room having a meeting. So I asked whether an appointed board was bound by the same state law as for an elected body that it had to announce meetings in advance. Lu Williams said that it was a special called meeting, that they sent a notice to the VDT, and yes, they were bound by the same rule.

I asked if I could have a copy of the agenda of the meeting in progress. She said they had all the copies in there but she would get me one later.

A few minutes later I went back and asked if they were in executive session. She said yes, they already went from the open called meeting into executive session to discussion personnel.

However, I did pick up a copy of tonight’s agenda, and typed it in, so, for apparently the first time ever, here is the agenda for a VLCIA board meeting on the web before the meeting. -jsq

Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority

Agenda
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Continue reading →

“It’s an anti-American law” —Carlos Santana in Georgia

Carroll Rogers wrote in the AJC 15 May 2011, Santana blasts Georgia immigration bill before Braves game:
Legendary rock guitarist Carlos Santana, in town to be honored for a “Beacon of Change” award at Sunday’s MLB Civil Rights Game at Turner Field, called the state’s new immigration law “anti-American.”

Santana took his turn at the podium on the field in a pre-game ceremony before the Braves-Phillies game to criticize the immigration bill just signed into law by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Friday.

“I represent the human race,” the Mexican-born Carlos Santana said. “The people of Arizona, the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

The Georgia immigration law, HB 87, cracks down on illegal immigration by increasing enforcement powers and requiring many employers to check the immigration status of new hires.

And this is just the start of what’s going to happen to Georgia as long as that law is in effect.

But what do you really think, Carlos? Continue reading →

Expanding Wiregrass Solar —Alden Hathaway of Sterling Planet

Alden Hathaway of Sterling Planet said he hopes to expand the Wiregrass Solar array in Valdosta to an additional megawatt, taking it from being one of the largest in Georgia to one of the largest in the southeast. This is the man Sterling Planet Chairman Sonny Murphy singled out for praise. This is the expansion project Sonny Murphy promoted in the Sterling Planet press release. Alden Hathaway knows what needs to be done, and Pete Marte and Hannah Solar stand ready to do it.

Alden Hathaway also talked about how solar helps load distribution on the electric grid, lowering electric rates for everybody. He remarked that once power companies realized that, they’d be for solar. More on that later.

But meanwhile, let’s ask Mayor Fretti and Commissioner Crawford Powell when they’re going to do this: Continue reading →

The backfire effect, and how to leapfrog it

If you have evidence against something that will harm public health or waste money, just tell everybody and they’ll understand and stop it, right? Nope, humans don’t work that way. More likely you’ll provoke the backfire effect, reinforcing beliefs in the bad information that caused the problem in the first place. Here are some ways to jump over that effect to get at solutions to the problem.

Shankar Vedantam wrote in the Washington Post 15 Sep 2008 about The Power of Political Misinformation, illustrating with a couple of well-known examples of misinformation (you’ll recognize them), and continuing:

Nearly all these efforts rest on the assumption that good information is the antidote to misinformation.

But a series of new experiments show that misinformation can exercise a ghostly influence on people’s minds after it has been debunked — even among people who recognize it as misinformation.

Countering bad information directly just reinforces it.

Chris Mooney wrote more about why that is in Mother Jones 18 April 2011, The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science: Continue reading →

Wiregrass Solar is the first of several projects —Sonny Murphy

Let’s look at Sterling Planet’s own press release about the Wiregrass Solar commissioning. What’s this about a first phase? And what’s the second phase?

Sterling Planet announces completion of one of Georgia’s largest solar generating projects: First phase of Valdosta solar project now supplies green energy to Georgia Power.

Sterling Planet, the leading national retail provider of renewable energy and other clean-energy assets, today announced at a commissioning ceremony the completion of a 200 kWAC output solar generating project in Valdosta. One of the largest solar arrays in the state of Georgia, the Wiregrass Solar, LLC project began commercial operation on April 6 and is now generating annualized output of approximately 350,000 kilowatt-hours. This is enough clean, emission-free electricity to power 350 Georgia homes using the average amount of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity monthly.

Developed by Sterling Planet, Wiregrass Solar supplies green power for the Georgia Power Green Energy program, an option for the utility’s customers who voluntarily choose to support renewable power and help generate more of it in Georgia.

OK, that’s all good. Congratulations!

Also notice Sterling Planet doesn’t make the mayor’s mistake in saying this is the largest solar array in Georgia, like WCTV after Pete Marte of Hannah Solar corrected it, Sterling says “one of the largest”.

But what’s this about “first phase”? Continue reading →