You are the media

It’s not necessary to occupy a square or stage a sit-in to emulate MLK’s nonviolent methods, even in Egypt. Look for blue lights in this video:

One view of what you just saw:

In the video you’ll notice the events of the day are not getting captured by film crews and news reporters. They’re being documented by people with their mobile phones. Take another look at the video and count the number of illuminated mobile phone screens you see being raised overhead to capture pictures and video as the scenes in the streets unfolds.
It doesn’t take a fancy camera to record events as they happen. Most any old cell phone will do.

You are the media.

-jsq

Georgia native helps inspire Egyptian revolution: MLK in Arabic

Georgia native son Martin Luther King continues to inspire non-violent resistance to oppression, now in Arabic comic book form in Egypt. Egyptian activist Dalia Ziada obtained rights to translate The Montgomery Story from 1958 into Arabic. She says:
When, at first, we went to print the comic book, a security officer blocked publication. So we called him and demanded a meeting. He agreed, and we read through the comic book over coffee to address his concerns. At the end, he granted permission to print and then asked: “Could I have a few extra copies for my kids?”
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The mentality that exploits and destroys the natural environment –Wendell Berry

And now a word from Wendell Berry:
The mentality that exploits and destroys the natural environment is the same that abuses racial and economic minorities…. The mentality that destroys a watershed and then panics at the threat of flood is the same mentality that gives institutionalized insult to black people and then panics at the prospect of race riots.
Source: “Think Little” in A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural and Agricultural, by Wendell Berry, 1972. Forty years later, that mentality is still a problem.

-jsq

Air pollution and children –Dr. Noll, VCC, 10 Feb 2011

Dr. Noll talks about air pollution and children. He asks if the council thinks numerous medical associations and doctors are lying to us. Mayor Fretti asks if that’s a rhetorical question. Dr. Noll indicates Rev. Rose and others seem quite disappointed in lack of response. Mayor Fretti falls back on process.


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 10 February 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Environmental apartheid and envieronmental racism –Leigh Touchton, VCC, 10 Feb 2011

NAACP reiterates charges of environmental racism, despite claims from Brad Lofton, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, that “all of a sudden we haven’t heard anymore about environmental racism.” Leigh Touchton, president of the local NAACP chapter, presents to the Valdosta City Council research published by Robert D. Bullard about environmental apartheid.


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 10 February 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
She posted the appended as a comment on the previous LAKE post about Robert D. Bullard’s report.

-jsq

Dear Mr. Quarterman:
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VSU Advanced Journalism Class, VCC, 10 Feb 2011

Mayor Fretti welcomes a VSU advanced journalism class, as well as David Rodock of the VDT, while Gretchen pans around the room. Hm, advanced journalism: maybe they’d like to video events?


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 10 February 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

VLCIA board meeting today

The Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority board meets tonight:
All Meetings will be held at 5:30pm in the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street, unless otherwise notified.
I would post a link to their agenda, if they had it online, but they don’t.

Meanwhile, here they are.

-jsq

Roy Copeland
Roy Copeland
Tom Call
Tom Call
Mary B. Gooding
Mary Gooding
Norman Bennett
Norman Bennett
Jerry Jennett
Jerry Jennett,
Chairman

Georgia forests worth more standing than incinerated

Sandi Martin writes in Southeast Farm Press:
A University of Georgia researcher has found that Georgia’s forestlands provide essential ecosystem services to the state worth an estimated $37 billion annually.

This is in addition to the value of timber, forest products and recreation. This is the first time these indirect benefits of Georgia’s private forests have been estimated.

That’s substantially more than the $28 billion annually from the conventional wood-products industry.

What are these ecosystem services? Continue reading

GA biomass bubble bursts

Dan Chapman writes in the AJC:
The premise, and the promise, were brilliant in their simplicity: Turn tree waste into fuel, help break the Middle Eastern choke hold on America’s economy and bring hundreds of jobs to rural Georgia.

What wasn’t there to like?

Plenty, starting with the closing last month of the Range Fuels cellulosic ethanol factory that promised to help make Georgia a national leader in alternative energy production. Then there’s the money — more than $162 million in local, state and federal grants, loans and other subsidies committed to the venture.

Hm, who was involved in that?
“Range Fuels represents a new future for our country,” proclaimed then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, flanked by dignitaries and beauty queens. “With Georgia’s vast, sustainable and renewable forests, we will lead the nation.”
That reminds me of this press release from 15 Sep 2009:
“Georgia’s status as the nation’s Bioenergy Corridor continues to grow with the location of a renewable energy power plant in Valdosta,” said Governor Perdue. “Our vast supply of biomass, technology innovations and business-friendly environment are very attractive to companies such as Wiregrass Power.”
Will history repeat itself?

-jsq

Biomass plant a done deal? –Floyd Rose

This LTE appeared in the VDT Sunday 13 February 2011. -jsq
Abraham Lincoln said, “The probability that we shall fail in this struggle should not deter us from the support of a cause that we believe is just.” Such a cause for us is opposition to the biomass plant.

Given its support from city and county officials more concerned about doing the bidding of the rich and powerful than they are about the health of children, it is likely a “done deal.” Done by those who will profit from the deal.

None of the national health organizations endorse biomass plants as safe for children. The American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and the World Health Organization have concluded that biomass plants pose serious threats to children.

None of the deal makers, investors, or politicians who signed off on their deal live in the community which will most be affected by the poisonous toxins that will fill the air. Their children don’t attend the schools, nor do they attend any of the seven area churches.

Meetings have been held on the biomass project. Some by the Industrial Authority, WACE, the NAACP, and SCLC. And not a single citizen has spoken in favor of it. When I asked a council member about this, he said, “They are afraid of you.”

It is not the proponents who have anything to fear.

Continue reading