This Saturday, June 21, is "Show Your Stripes Day" -- an annual, global event calling attention to our changing climate and the urgent need for action to slow global warming.  The "warming stripes" were developed in 2018 by climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading in England, who has published a new edition every year since.  Each stripe represents the average global temperature for one year, going back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1850. The colors transition from cool blues to warm reds to reflect the increases in average temperatures experienced over time.  Darker reds are the warmest, while darker blues are coolest.

In the video below, Climate Central meteorologist Shel Winkley explains the warming stripes and describes how they depict in a visual manner the warming of our planet, a particular country, or a specific city.  As he says, "These warming stripes turn climate science into art, helping to spark conversations about climate change's impact to the places we love."​

Recycling everyday consumable materials such as cardboard, paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass isn’t only great for the environment. It also helps bolster the economy by creating well-paying jobs throughout the entire resource conservation value chain. In fact, companies in Georgia are trailblazing the future of recycling in the US with the help of The Center of Innovation Energy Technology, which is a division of the state government that provides industry expertise and connections to all types of Georgia businesses who are looking to strengthen the state’s sustainability ecosystem. According to the Georgia Center of Innovation’s website focused on recycling and sustainability:

Thinking about climate solutions, no technology comes to mind quicker than electric vehicles.  And for good reason.  We’re seeing more EVs on our roads, and charging stations are popping up in parking lots in larger cities -- and even in towns like Covington.
 
But there's a larger reason transportation solutions are a big deal these days.  Nationwide,  vehicles moving people, freight, and goods contribute 29% of the total greenhouse gas emissions entering our atmosphere each year to warm our planet.  Thanks to researchers with the non-profit Drawdown Georgia, our state is blessed with robust data on emissions in Georgia and the most effective solutions to lower them here.  That data shows transportation emissions represent

• 41% of  total emissions statewide and
• 53% right here in Newton County.

"Brighten the corner where you are."

It's a line Ray Anderson internalized from Sunday school as a boy, and he used it often to lift up those around him and inspire them to make a difference.  Even though cancer took Ray from his family and his life's work in 2011, that same spirit was ever-present for those of us who assembled Sunday for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation's RayDay celebration at Serenbe.

On Tuesday, November 7, voters in the cities of Covington and Porterdale will elect new mayors and fill multiple city council seats.  Advanced in person absentee voting starts Monday, October 16.  To help you make informed choices, we asked candidates in each contested race to respond to five questions about sustainability.

We're sharing the answers we received below and noting which candidates did not respond.  We encourage you to consider this information before casting your ballot.

Vision, planning, and hard work make good things happen. But don't underestimate the power of serendipity.

In an earlier blog post, I told of an old letter my wife found tucked inside a book in her office.  Written to her while she was Mayor of the City of Covington, the letter prompted me to reflect on my own memories of its writer, Dr. David G. Simons, and a presentation he gave to the Covington mayor and council back in 2008.  The subject of the letter and that presentation was Climate Change.

In a subsequent conversation with current Assistant City Manager John King, he told me Dr. Simons was his great uncle.  John also told me his father had an autographed original of the 1957 Life Magazine cover featuring Dr. Simons, which his father was lending to the  Covington Welcome Center.

At Christmas, I wrote a post titled Climate Is a Dickens of a Problem, in which I referenced the ghosts of climate past, present, and future.  This week, I encountered one of those kind and gentle spirits of our past in my own home.

My wife Kim and I were cleaning out our offices to prepare for home remodeling, when we found a letter tucked inside a hardcover volume on her bookshelf.  It was from David G. Simons, MD, an elderly Covington resident who -- as it turns out  -- was quite famous.  His photo once graced the cover of Life magazine.
 
Writing on November 13, 2008, Dr. Simons was following up on a presentation he gave to the City of Covington Mayor and Council.  (Kim was Mayor then.)  His urgent message warned local officials about the threat of climate change.  Reading the letter now, almost 15 years later, Bob Dylan's line from Tangled Up in Blue says it best:  "Every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal, pouring off every page like it was written in my soul from me to you.”

In his Ecocentrity Blog, Ray C. Anderson Foundation Executive Director John Lanier recently shared video of a speech by his grandfather, Ray Anderson, to illuminate a piece about our planet's crisis of biodiversity loss.  Like most recordings of Ray Anderson, this 2006 speech relating his 1997 "spear in the chest" moment after reading Paul Hawken's "The Ecology of Commerce" is profound. Everyone should watch the the entire seven minutes at the bottom of this page, but I found these words especially worthy of transcribing here.  Ray said:

"I had agreed reluctantly -- and I underline 'reluctantly' -- to speak to a newly assembled environmental task force of Interface people from around the world. I had been asked to offer an environmental vision. And I did not have an environmental vision. I did not want to answer this awkward question -- awkward for me because I could not get beyond: 'We obey the law, comply.' And I knew somehow that comply was not a vision."

In A Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley's ghost pays a Christmas Eve visit to his former partner Ebeneezer Scrooge to warn him of the torment awaiting in the afterlife.  Marley speaks of his own suffering penance for his deeds in life and implores Scrooge to change while there is still time.  Scrooge's reaction, of course, is to deny the reality of what he sees and hears with his own eyes and ears.  He is spooked, but persistent in his denial of the apparition before him.   Thankfully, for Scrooge, Marley's ghost is not yet done with him.  And a magical journey in one night ultimately changes the life of Ebeneezer Scrooge and transforms the world around him.

How did that happen?  And what is the lesson for those of us seeking to persuade family and friends to join us in striving to avert a different unpleasant fate.  One manifesting itself as our climate crisis.

If you’re reading this, odds are climate and environmental responsibility are important to you.  And with public opinion polls showing 75% of Americans are alarmed, concerned, or cautious about climate change, you likely have family and friends on your shopping list who would appreciate a thoughtful  gift given with sustainability in mind.
 
But shopping, wrapping, and getting gifts to loved ones on time is stressful enough!  Won’t fretting over environmental impact make that even harder?
 
It’s actually easier than you may think, and Sustainable Newton is here to break down the terms and offer up some environmentally sound gift ideas for the holidays. Let’s start by identifying some items that contribute to waste and often go ignored.