Environment
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Waste Not, Want Not: Athens-Clarke County Waste Management Tackles New Challenges
Suki Janssen’s phone constantly lights up with notifications, a sign that even though it’s 2 p.m. on a Friday, her day is far from over. She occasionally pauses to reply to messages and emails that demand her attention as the director of the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department. As the…
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Local Efforts to Preserve Gentle Giants: Classic City Clydesdale Works to Sustain the Breed
The sound of crunching gravel under the car’s tires interrupts the quiet. The 18-hand high gentle giants lightly munching on grass in the paddocks don’t seem to even notice. Patches of Georgia’s notorious red clay peek through parts of the paddocks. As the windows roll down, the smell of cut…
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Sustainable Agriculture as Welfare and Healthcare
When the sun rises and many people are still fast asleep, Matthew Schneider and the other employees of the Hickory Hill Farm are already awake and working in the fields. From 7 a.m. to noon or later, Schneider harvests produce that he will later sell at the Athens Farmers Market.…
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Earth Day 2019: UGA Office of Sustainability Says ‘No More Confetti’
As graduation nears, University of Georgia seniors are rushing to take their graduation photos before they take their ceremonial walk through the Arch. What these graduates may not know is according to the UGA Office of Sustainability, the confetti these grads throw in their photos can damage the beautiful campus…
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UGA Student Creates Sustainable Business that Serves Athens Community
Rekindle Athens is a sustainable candle business, which means all products used to create the candles can be reused and recycled. As a senior majoring in athletic training and exercise and sport science, Matthew Mewbourne has spent long nights studying. In fact, it was after one such long day that…
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Electric Buses Are Coming to UGA For Next School Year
UGA has recently signed a contract with South Carolina tech company Proterra and will be receiving up to 20 Proterra Catalyst E2 electric buses in time for the upcoming academic year. The new addition to UGA’s transit is being funded by a $10 million grant. The university was awarded the…
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How Some Athens Couples Aren’t Letting Their Valentine’s Day Go To Waste
While some couples in the Athens area are planning to spend Valentine’s Day having a nice dinner or seeing a movie, the more unconventional romantics will be spending it learning what happens after they flush their toilets. The Athens-Clarke County Water Reclamation Facility is holding their 5th annual Valentine’s Day…
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Polar Vortex: What Is It And What Does It Mean?
A historic polar vortex has been sweeping the nation with brutal temperatures and weather conditions over the past few weeks, hitting the Midwest the hardest. A polar vortex is a strong circulation of upper-level winds that surrounds the northern pole during the winter. When the circulation weakens or becomes distorted,…
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Athens Groups Address the Environment, One School at a Time
This is one of several Solutions Journalism stories published through a Grady capstone course that reported on housing issues during the fall of 2018. How do you make big issues such as climate change and sustainability accessible to younger generations? That is a question Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, a nonprofit organization…
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UGA Office of Sustainability: A Student-Founded Solution to Go Green
This is one of several Solutions Journalism stories published through a Grady capstone course that reported on housing issues during the fall of 2018. Before 2010, the University of Georgia’s Office of Sustainability did not exist. Students wanted to change that. “In 2008, there was a group of students, mostly in…