Tag Archives: Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy

Making this a green campus –Dr. Michael G. Noll @ SAVE 2013-11-15

Dr. Noll remarked on the rain falling and said of the solar canopy:

It’s multipurpose, it provides shade, it provides shelter, and it provides renewable energy, so that makes it really awesome.

He offered as story about events and world population at those times:

  • 1 billion in 1783: the first hot air balloon in 1783 in Paris, France

  • 2 billion in 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first flight

  • 1969: Apollo 11 landed on the moon when Dr. Noll was 8 years old

  • 1973: Oil crisis
  • 4 billion in 1977: Jimmy Carter installed first solar panels on White House
  • 1981: Ronald Reagan took down those solar panels

  • 7 billion now: Accelerating climate change

He said we’re entering a second solar age, the first one being the fossilized solar power of fossil fuels. He mentioned the solar powered long flights of the Solar Impulse airplane as an example of hope, and an example of accelerating change.

Then you know what we are capable of, what we can do.

He concluded: 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 →

When the biomass plant is cancelled —John S. Quarterman

What will happen to the spirit of activism when the biomass plant is cancelled?

I applaud the activism of the many and varied biomass opponents! Let me repeat my prediction: the biomass plant will never be built. That’s no reason to stop doing what you’re doing. You know opposition is having an effect when VLCIA repeatedly denies it.

You might be surprised how many other people think this plant will never be built. Ashley Paulk told me Continue reading →

Let’s see these “many” biomass opponents

So what’s the evidence that these biomass opponents are many, as the VDT says? We could review letters to the editors in the VDT, but let’s look at the visual evidence LAKE has recorded. With no pro-biomass demonstrators anywhere to be seen. Sure, a few people show up at government meetings to speak for the biomass plant, but by my tally they are indeed very few, and most of them are either former employees or board members of the Industrial Authority. Yes, LAKE has posted videos of them, as well: Ken Garren, Nolen Cox. Crawford Powell. Or watch the people at the microphones during the 6 December 2011 VLCIA biomass “forum” and see what you think the ratio is.

My opinion is the same as I posted last month: “Black and white, young and old, conservative and liberal, college professors and unemployed”. Come see for yourself today outside Valdosta City Hall starting at 5PM.

-jsq

Far more citizens are concerned about the plant –VDT

In the VDT, Friday 25 March 2011:
“THUMBS DOWN: To area officials who continue to refer to the opponents of the biomass plant as a “fringe” group. Far more citizens are concerned about the plant than officials would like for the public to believe. Thankfully, the city council allowed them to speak at Thursday’s meeting, but the issue is not going away until their health concerns are addressed.”

A year ago the VDT was solidly in the pro biomass camp. Guess they didn’t like being fed misinformation, any more than the rest of us did. And that was before the VDT said VLCIA illegally made up a document.

Rumor has it that there’s going to be another demonstration today outside Valdosta City Hall starting at 5PM.

-jsq

VDT says VLCIA illegally made up a document

Today’s editorial in the VDT is Another Industrial Authority misstep refers to the VDT article and editorial of Sunday, and continues:
The reporter who conducted the interview with Industrial Authority Project Manager Allen Ricketts has been subsequently repeatedly contacted by Ricketts for what he deems “false reporting.” According to Ricketts, the timeline was never official and was only something the Industrial Authority threw together to appease the Times when given an official Open Records Request. Ricketts is apparently unaware that legally he cannot produce a document that does not exist to comply with said request. If he knowingly did so, as he now claims, that is a clear violation of the Open Records Act.
Presumably that would be the “Project Critical Path time-line is attached” that wasn’t actually attached to documents returned for an open records request of 17 February 2011. Hm, since VLCIA did supply such a document to the VDT, presumably it is now a VLCIA document subject to open records request, even though it was not what VLCIA told VDT it was.

Back to the VDT editorial: Continue reading →

Fight the biomass plant, and solar is truly clean and green –Natasha Fast @ VCC 24 March 2011

Natasha Fast, co-president of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, explains why she is protesting outside the most recent Valdosta City Council meeting.


Natasha Fast of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy outside the
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

She also says she supports solar as a truly clean green renewable energy source: Continue reading →

Valdostans protest biomass –VSU Spectator

Molly Duet writes in the VSU newspaper today:
Protestors wearing respirator masks held signs reading “Biomass? No!” in front of the Valdosta City Hall building on Thursday. Members of the Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, the VSU student organization Students Against Violating the Environment, and other concerned Valdosta citizens showed up to protest the construction of the Wiregrass Power: Biomass Electric Generating Plant.

“We already have solar power resources in place that we could be using and I feel like money should be directed towards that,” Ivey Roubique, vice-president of the Student Geological Society, said. “It wouldn’t be good for the community and even though I’m in college here it still matters.”

The Spectator article quotes from two speakers for whom LAKE happens to have video, linked below. Continue reading →

Call to action for City Council not to sell water to biomass plant –Karen Noll @ VCC 24 March 2011

Karen Noll of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, asked the Valdosta City Council not to sell wastewater to the proposed Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant. She presented
“500+ signatures from community members and organizations”
asking for that. She also said
“…furthermore a response to our request each member of the council is expected before the next council meeting.”
Here’s the video.


WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, at
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

“We welcome solar power to the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County”

After all the protesters, police, and press, representatives of VLCIA, Sterling Planet, Hannah Solar, Georgia Power, and the City of Valdosta did finally break ground for the Wiregrass Solar power plant. I asked Col. Ricketts for a shovel, but he just snorted. Here’s the groundbreaking video:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Continue reading →