It’s no secret that colleges were among the first entities to adopt sustainability practices, which puts them ahead of the curve. As we present our Higher Education Directory of colleges and universities (see page 39), it’s worth noting the incredible…
Each year Metro Atlanta leaders seek answers to their problems by analyzing comparable regions. The LINK (Leadership, Involvement, Networking, Knowledge) trips, coordinated by the Atlanta Regional Commission, have become an indispensible annual chatting session for the region’s movers and shakers…
Rocked by exurban Metro Atlanta growth, Rockdale County has maintained its remarkable assets and unique brand that has borne it through recent challenges and should propel it forward into new opportunities, say local leaders. Awareness of a staggering problem is…
Sometimes the best way to get a clear perspective on Georgia politics is to head out to the country and get back to nature. Here we see the ecological advantages of our state in all their glory, and at times,…
As the state’s wish list for T-SPLOST transportation projects to be tackled by a penny sales tax by district – if voters approve in 2012 – begins to emerge, we are seeing the early signs of regional thinking. Specifically, Metro…
Brunswick and the Golden Isles of Glynn County have ample balm to soothe wounds from the current recession. The Port of Brunswick posted a 26.2 percent increase in tonnage from 2009 to 2010 and bolstered its standing as a major…
As Georgia Trend honors companies that have boosted their sustainability index in the Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings (see page 39) this month, there seems to be a top-down effect. It is worth noting some of the trends that have boosted…
Putting strong sustainability principles into practice is good for business as well as the planet, as more Georgia companies and their stakeholders are discovering. Even a tough economy has not deterred the state’s top corporate citizens from working to strengthen…
A bill in the Senate (SB 86) would allow communities to blow off the Georgia Planning Act. They can still make plans, but they won’t be penalized by the state for failure to craft and implement their plans through denied…
Business has been brisk in Savannah, and that’s an understatement. Things started picking up in 2009 when Mitsubishi’s Savannah Machinery Works moved into the megasite assembled by the state over the last decade in Pooler. This high-tech manufacturing center will…
Every year, U.S. residents and companies discard mountains of waste – an estimated 251 million tons in 2006. In 2008, Georgia sent nearly 13 million tons of garbage to landfills, according to The Atlanta Journal-Consti-tution, and nearly 40 percent of…
Macon, middle Georgia’s mid-sized capital at the intersection of Interstate 16 (to Savannah and I-95) and I-75, has plenty of advantages from northern Bibb County to the southern end, where Georgia drops down to sea level. The beautiful Ocmulgee River…
Georgia Trend began GreenRoom in part to acknowledge good deeds in the land conservation sector. Every few months a group like Georgia Conservancy would announce that another swath of the state’s wilderness or coastal marshland was protected. Usually it involved…
Cherokee County, near the top of the Metro Atlanta region, has been as hard hit by the recession as other once-rapidly growing exurban counties, but it has prepared itself with an array of investments meant to enhance its employment picture…
The year 2011 could be the year three new governors decide on a water compact that will mutually benefit Georgia, Florida and Alabama. If it isn’t, 2012 could be the year that makes or breaks the future of our state.…
Cobb County is a powerful force in Metro Atlanta, and its leadership shifts make regional waves. In the past year voters elected local businessman Tim Lee chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, after longtime commission chair Sam Olens…
Relatively speaking, 2010 was a good year for Georgia transportation. We may have actually turned the corner, leaving behind a regressive reticence that left our state clamoring – unsuccessfully – for critical infrastructure funding for the last eight years. Without…
A lot of cargo moves in and out of Georgia’s deepwater ports in Savannah and Bruns-wick, which means a lot of cargo containers need to get to and from the ports quickly via train or truck. When a planned deepening…
Interesting new developments are emerging around Atlanta, centered on pedestrian access and representing a real cultural shift. It has relevance to sustainability efforts, based on reducing car use by making it more worthwhile to park and walk. And the pleasure…
Green is good, Georgia companies are discovering, for both the planet and the balance sheet. A green business can be one that is based on selling green products and services or one that adopts green practices and procedures in more…
As the Atlanta BeltLine reaches the halfway point of its $60-million campaign to build 33 miles of trails, there is a rediscovery of Georgia’s intricate network of trails in the making. Trails are an indispensible link in the state’s ecological…
It’s a big year for Athens-Clarke County, and change is in the air. To mark the closing of the Navy Supply Corps School after 57 years, the city celebrated with 57 days of activities – a fond farewell: The last…
It was a big moment: all of Georgia’s Riverkeepers uniting to support a water plan that relies on interbasin transfers in coordination with other initiatives to keep the state’s supply flowing. The gubernatorial candidates should be listening, because the Riverkeeper…
Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority is changing its name to reflect a stronger focus on enabling institutions to use the Ameri-can Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars it has been authorized to disburse. It will subsequently be known as Georgia Environmental Fi-nance…
With more than 11,000 employees, WellStar Health System is big healthcare business for Georgia. From its origins at Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, the system has grown over the last 50 years to include four hospitals, extending out to West Georgia…
Business as usual in Augusta these days means $340 million in ongoing projects. It means new roads connecting to old ones, new companies investing in green building and new flight connections at Augusta Airport. It also means year-round tourism above…
Each year more than 100 Metro Atlanta leaders travel to another city for the At-lanta Regional Commission’s annual LINK (Leadership Involvement Networking Knowledge) trip. Three and a half days are loaded with seminars and forums on topics common to Atlanta…
Georgia’s Land Conserva-tion Program has done pretty well in a bad economy – acquiring 116,627 acres of land for easement protection since the program’s inception in 2005. Last August more than 7,000 acres along the Altamaha River were donated as…
Sustainability is hardly a trend. It’s more of a movement – and it’s happening from within. In a time of slow growth, builders are shifting from fast and cheap to the affordably sustainable model. It hasn’t exactly galvanized a non-start…
The rumble coming from the south side of Columbus – to the tune of $2 million a day in construction work at Fort Benning – makes it seem as though the city is humming like a jet getting ready for…
Georgia’s agricultural community is roiling over some cuts to agricultural and ecological projects in the state’s university system that were part of a proposed overall $300 million shave to the system budget, which was floated during this year’s legislative session.…
Although Georgia leaders requested more than a billion dollars in federal American Recovery and Rein-vestment Act “TIGER” funds, when the awards announcement was made earlier this year, the state came away with nothing. The reason? Too much emphasis on road…
In a dramatic endorsement of nuclear energy, President Barack Obama has announced $8.3 billion in low- interest stimulus loans for construction of two more nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro. This huge chunk of dough means that opposition to…
West Central Georgia is at a turning point, as the region absorbs the staggering new changes that will increase its population by some 30,000 over the next several years. Columbus, with nearly 200,000 people, provides a snapshot of the changes…
Gov. Sonny Perdue has endorsed a transportation funding plan, finally. He has also proposed $3 billion in bonds over the next 10 years to get transportation projects rolling. The regional “T-SPLOST” plan, which allows counties to band together to create…
Just south of Hartwell is a monument to the Center of the World. The designation by the Cherokee Indian Tribe was prophetic, as Hart County’s particular geography makes it a midpoint between Atlanta and Greenville, SC, and easily accessible to…
Atlanta Beltline now brands itself as simply Beltline. The shift is almost imperceptible but speaks volumes. For one thing, it speaks confidence. Former CEO Terri Montague shepherded the $2.7 billion plan, aimed at creating a 22-mile ring of parks, neighborhoods…
Each spring, when buses from the Heart and Soul of Georgia Tour roll into a select group of cities, the visitors are met by high school marching bands, exuberant elected officials and citizens excited about the opportunity to showcase their…
Clean air is often taken for granted – you can’t see it until it’s gone. By then the federal government may be punishing you for fouling it, which is what happened in the late ’90s, when Atlanta’s failure to meet…
Talk about calling out the cavalry: Gov. Sonny Perdue’s new Water Contingency Task Force, announced in October, consists of more than 80 heavy hitters throughout the state, chaired by John Brock (Coca-Cola Enterprises) and Tim Lowe (Lowe Engineers). Its focus…
Georgians are holding their breath, awaiting the results of the upcoming legislative session, hoping that a new funding source for transportation will be created and some solutions offered for the state’s transportation problems. With gas prices creeping back up, voter…
A number of impressive environmental efforts were spotlighted recently by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ first Conserve Georgia Natural Leaders awards, which promote the Conserve Georgia program and successful examples of its different elements: Atlanta’s Clean Air Cam-paign won…
Behind the familiar Salvation Army bands and the colorful red collection kettles that appear during the holiday season, evoking Norman Rockwell-like images of humility, good will and charity, is one of America’s most powerful organizations. The “Christian Army,” which came…
The EnergyStar and WaterSense programs are helping people help the environment by doing something they love – shopping. You don’t have to understand how the technology works or have a huge personal stake in green issues to appreciate Energy-Star appliances,…
Athens has seen its share of ups and downs lately. Leaders lobbied hard to land the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) to enhance its growth in the life sciences sector last year; but a combination of community opposition and…
More stimulus money is flowing into Georgia, this time to finance water and sewer improvements; $40.5 million of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is part of $91.5 million approved by the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) for upgrades…
Known for years as the Carpet Capital of the World, Dalton has seen its fortunes affected by both the national decline in homebuilding brought about by the recession and the gradual consolidation of an industry that has shrunk from 400…
Georgia Trend’s first GreenRoom Summit, covered in the July issue, produced some revelations, especially information from the energy companies that residents, not big companies, use the most power and water. That means the onus is on residential developers and citizens…
Augusta is known worldwide as the home of one of golf’s greatest tournaments, the Masters. However, there’s far more to this city, located some two hours east of Atlanta, than green fairways and green jackets. Augusta also is home to…
Four Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs) have backed out of a plan to build a coal-fired plant in Washington County, citing concerns over new carbon emissions standards that may roll out from the Obama administration. Jackson and GreyStone Power, which had…
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