Savannah Morning News revisits Chatham County’s green goal

This post was written by John Bennett

April 5, 2008

Mary Landers checks in on Chatham County’s progress toward the goal of becoming the greenest county in Georgia, in a April 4 Savannah Morning News story called “How green is my county?” Landers points out just a few of the significant obstacles in the county’s path:

Chatham has no curbside recycling, only average public transportation and carpool use and draws far less than 1 percent of its household energy use from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass or hydroelectric, according to U.S. Census data.

These problems aren’t lost on newcomers. When I’ve mentioned the county’s green aspirations to folks who’ve moved to the area from other places, the response is usually a snicker. County Commissioner Patrick Shay said he knows reaching the goal will require a change in attitude, but there’s no time to waste:

“To me, this is the greatest challenge of our age,” he said. “We have 10 years left to do a paradigm shift to have a legitimate future for our children and grandchildren. If we do it right, then we’ll be the greatest generation.”

The effort will be led by the county’s Environmental Forum. The membership of the group includes some very capable and knowledgeable individuals, who can point the county in the right direction. The real question is whether the Chatham County officials and citizens are willing to follow.

Posted in Conservation, Energy, Government, Recycling, Transportation