Reality Checks

Over at NC Policy Watch, Rob Schofield has posted two short but comprehensive critiques of policy debates currently roiling Southern legislatures and the U.S. Congress.

In "Deniers till Their Last Breath," Schofield debunks several common arguments used to stymie state-level efforts to address global warming. Meanwhile, in "Losing Touch with Reality," Schofield
picks apart the objections offered up to hinder the reauthorization and expansion of the successful State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

In a fascinating new report, America's Wild Legacy, the Sierra Club highlights 52 special places across the country and its efforts to protect them. Among the places in the South:

Alabama: Upper Cahaba River
Arkansas: Fourche Creek
Florida: Western Everglades
Georgia: Coastal wetlands
Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park
Louisiana: Coastal cypress forests
Mississippi: Gulf Islands National Seashore
North Carolina: Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
South Carolina: Savannah River
Tennessee: Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area
Virginia: Mattaponi River

• Read the full report

Southern Entrepreneurship

The latest issue of SouthNow, a publication of the UNC Program on Public Life, analyzes entrepreneurship in the American South. The issue features a survey of state policies regarding entrepreneurship. While every Southern state is attempting to support entrepreneurship as part of larger economic development efforts, some state efforts have proven much more successful.

Besides providing a state-by-state summary of entrepreneurial efforts, the issue also contains several essays discussing the potential and pitalls of an entrepreneurship as an economic development strategy.

Brooks: Conserve electricity

Columnist Jeanne Brooks of The Greenville (SC) News highlighted the Center for a Better South's new book in a Sunday column encouraging people in the Palmetto State to conserve electricity:

Energy conservation starts at home. It begins with a personal consciousness about wasting electricity. It begins with vigilance about turning out lights when we leave a room.

Turning off the TV if nobody's watching. Replacing incandescent light bulbs with the new fluorescent ones. Making sure we buy energy-efficient appliances. Things like that.

But awareness also has to go all the way up into state government policies.

We might have to make a point of insisting on that.

"Getting Greener," published by the Charleston nonpartisan Center for a Better South and written by Eddy Moore, who grew up in Spartanburg, reminds, "As an old saying goes, 'If the people will lead, the government will follow.'"

Business Subsidies in NC

This week's special session of the General Assembly marked a turning point in North Carolina's economic development policy.

The special session resulted from Gov. Mike Easley's veto of a bill that would have provided up to $40 million in incentives to Goodyear Tire & Rubber in exchange for investments in the company's tire plant in Fayetteville. In a departure from past policy, the state would provide the incentives even if Goodyear reduced the size of its workforce.

In the end, the governor and legislature agreed to a compromise that would provide up to $30 million in incentives to Goodyear and another $30 million for Bridgestone-Firestone, which also operates a tire plant in North Carolina. The compromise would provide state incentives to firms already operating in North Carolina even if those firms reduce their employment roles by up to 20 percent. Moreover, Bridgestone likely will qualify for incentives for investments that it already decided to make without public funds.

To learn more about this contentious debate, see the following resources:

Laura Leslie, "Incentives Compromise." WUNC Radio (audio news report)

Elaine Mejia, "Risky Business." NC Budget & Tax Center (analysis)

John Hood, "The Giveaway May Yield Surprises." Carolina Journal (commentary)

Rob Schofield, "We Can Do Better." NC Policy Watch (commentary)

Calculate your carbon footprint

One of the topics in "Getting Greener: Progressive Ideas in the American South" is Better Living. This chapter includes many suggestions for how individuals can reduce their impact on the environment, from recycling to conserving water to composting.

A carbon calculator is available online through the "Inconvenient Truth" website on global climate change. The calculator allows you to determine how much carbon dioxide you produce as an individual each year by driving, flying, heating and cooling your house, and using electricity. To try the calculator, go to: Carbon Calculator
The national average is 7.5 tons per year, and you can determine whether you fall below, around, or above this average.

More suggestions for how to reduce your carbon footprint are available on the Take Action page.

Alabama working to clean up power

The Anniston (Ala.) Star reported Sept. 12 that Alabama Power is working to clean up the way it generates electricity in a story spurred by recommendations in the Center for a Better South's new book on environmental policy.

"The report says the South's hunger for power is even more evident when it's broken down into home electric use, capturing 11 of the top 12 states, when ranked by electricity consumption. The power is cheap by the kilowatt hour, therefore residents don't seem concerned with conserving it, [author Eddy] Moore's report contends.

"The irony, Moore concludes, is that while Southern electric companies tout their low rates, residents in Southern states actually pay more per capita for power, simply because they use so much of it. California, which has among the highest per-kilowatt costs in the country, tallies $771 in annual per capita spending for electricity. Louisiana, on the other hand, has per capita spending of $1,235 annually. In Alabama, the amount is $1,132 per capita."

• Read more of the story
  (7.4 MB PDF of A section of the newspaper)
  

Book encourages Virginia to do better

The Suffolk (Va.) News Herald's Tracy Agnew wrote a story Saturday that highlights the Center's new Getting Greener book as a call for Virginia to do better with energy and the environment.

"Although green buildings -- those that conserve water, use more environmentally-sensitive construction, manage the underlying and surrounding land and reduce indoor air emissions n cost 2 to 5 percent more to build than regular buildings, the building pays for the cost quickly, Brack said. A school that is housed in a “green building” can afford to hire two more teachers each year, according to the book.

“'I don’t know anybody, anywhere, that says, ‘We don’t need more teachers,’'” Brack said.

"According to the book, Virginia uses 31 percent more energy per capita than the national average. However, there are things Virginia is doing well. For example, he pointed out Virginia’s program of providing state tax credits as an incentive for private land conservation.

“'Not everything in the South is backwards,' Brack said, 'but we still have a lot to learn from other places on how we can do things better.'”

• Read the full story.

Moredock: SC leaders tout new book

From a column by Will Moredock of the Charleston (S.C.) City Paper:

Eleven states in five days. Even a Rolling Stones tour doesn't move that fast.

But this tour had no roadies or truckloads of equipment — just a box of books and two men with a message. This was the Better South tour, featuring columnist and social entrepreneur Andy Brack and state Sen. Phil Leventis (D-Sumter), the man who should be lieutenant governor. And they wanted to say one thing loud and clear: It's time for the South to go green.

• Read the full column

Recent headlines involving the Center's new book

Media coverage continues to highlight the Center for a Better South's new book of environmental ideas:

8/31: Can S.C. revolutionize its energy policy? by Mike Fitts, The (Columbia, S.C.) State:
"The book points out that electricity in the South generally is cheaper than it is nationally, but we still spend more on power — because we use, and waste, so much. Many of the book’s recommendations aren’t really radical: It envisions governments building more efficiently, and private business being encouraged to follow suit with incentives. "

8/29: Taking a religious look at the environment, by David Prather, Huntsville (Ala.) Times:
The book-support tour was organized by a group called the Center for a Better South. It's a nonpartisan think tank out of Charleston, S.C. The environment is its big issue this year. Last year, it was (gasp!) taxes. I went to its Web site - www.bettersouth.org - and read its executive summary of its proposal to reform taxes in Southern states. ... Surely, though, there's nothing wrong with religious groups wanting to do what they can to protect Alabama's environment and to use energy wisely.

8/27: New book outlines green opportunities in South, Pageland (S.C.) Progressive Journal:
"'The purpose of this book is to take ideas that have worked or are working in other areas of the country and help Southern leaders better understand how they can work in our region,' said Better South President Andy Brack."

8/21: New book offers ways to be greener, WSMV TV, Nashville, Tenn.:
"State and local leaders are being called on to make Tennessee more environmentally friendly."

Green building initiatives on campus

One of the topics covered by the book "Getting Greener: Progressive environmental ideas for the American South" is better building. The book recommends that schools should be built according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building standards. These buildings would require less energy and water.

Several universities in the South have already become leaders in green building initiatives. Florida State University has started building a new Materials Research Building, which will be their first LEED-certified building as discussed at FSU.com.

In addition, the FSU Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering Center has initiated the design of an off-grid zero emission house on FSU campus, which includes technologies such as high-efficiency lighting, hydrogen power, solar heating and electricity and rain water collection.

These initiatives show that universities can be leaders in green technology and that building green is possible on campuses in the U.S. South.