We’re all at the table, so let’s talk

Martha Farnsworth Riche, former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, spoke to more than 150 participants at “The Changing Faces of the Future” Fifty Forward forum, held Sept. 10 at the Morehouse Leadership Center.

Following Riche’s address, two local experts, Jane Smith, executive director of the Spelman College Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, and Tisha Tallman, President and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, joined Riche onstage for a Q&A session with members of the audience.

Most of the discussion centered around situations where the benefits of embracing diversity had not yet been realized.

When answering one audience member’s question about maximizing the benefits of diversity in the workforce, Riche said:

 “Atlanta is incredibly positioned to embrace diversity as a positive force, perhaps the leading city in the country in this regard. Anybody in the world can come to Atlanta and be at home. That is a strength that few cities have.”

We’ll have more updates on the forum later, but for now …

 Do you agree with Riche? Is metro Atlanta as welcoming as many of us think it is?

Back to the Future

In 2005, a group of interested citizens and organizations began a dialogue to create a more sustainable food system for Metro Atlanta, resulting in the creation of the Atlanta Local Food Initiative.

Some of the group’s partners include the CDC, DeKalb County Board of Health, UGA’s Cooperative Extension and Center for Urban Agriculture.

The group “envisions a transformed food system” made safer, more affordable and one that will “rebuild Southern foodways in harmony with the land.”

One of the group’s goals is to launch a farm-to-school program, which are popular in other urban areas surrounded by thriving agricultural communities. Atlanta certainly fits the bill in that regard.

 Some other goals:

• Preserve greenspace
• Reduce petroleum
• Promote healthy eating
• Build local economies
• Create new jobs

Check out the initiative’s brand-spanking new report. It’s comprehensive but not in a dull way. And, maybe report isn’t the best way to describe. It’s more like a plan, a roadmap to actually accomplish the goals ALFI has set.

Could this document outline some of the key steps that could lead to a prosperous, sustainable and yummy future for the Atlanta region?

We’re always focusing on the future on this site, but this report suggests that looking at the past is just as worthy an exercise. Back in the day, local markets sold local produce that was chemical-free and grown in a way that didn’t ruin watersheds or require barrels of oil.

And since that food wasn’t trucked half-way across the country, it was less expensive, too. Today, prices – whether gasoline or groceries -  are a big concern for most of us.

We’ve got a lot to learn, a long way to go and every little bit helps. Thanks, ALFI.

Becoming Gwinnett

The headline of Mary Lou Pickel’s article in today’s AJC says it all: “Gwinnett’s minorities surge toward majority. A revolution in diversity …”

A revolution indeed.

Gwinnett’s African American and Hispanic populations more than doubled between 2000 and 2007. The Asian community is booming, too. Gwinnett’s explosive growth and the availability of jobs and affordable housing, the article asserts, is attracting the newcomers.

But the numbers are just numbers. The real story, the reason the headline uses such dramatic words as “revolution,” and “surge,” lies with the cultural impact of a majority white county turning into a minority white county.

Is it that big a deal though? It’s happened before, in DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton and Rockdale counties.

But yes, to many people it is a big deal. The ripple effect of such a shift changes many things, from the political structure of the county to its civic and business sectors.

For example, perhaps a minority-led Gwinnett will be more accepting of mass transit links to Atlanta.

Another example, courtesy of the AJC article, is that state Sen. Curt Thompson (D-Norcross) “has said he has to campaign in Spanish, Korean, Hindi, Vietnamese and Mandarin to keep his seat.”

Many more such shifts are taking place across Gwinnett County, the rest of metro Atlanta and the entire state.

The big question is, is there anything we should do to help make this demographic shift easier for those who are about to become the majority and for those who are about to become the minority?

 Shouldn’t we at least get together and talk about it?

 It’s time to start the conversation. The next Fifty Forward event, “The Changing Faces of the Future,” will be Sept. 10 at the Morehouse College Leadership Center. Former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Martha Farnsworth Riche will be the keynote speaker and she’ll be joined by a panel of local experts, followed by an open-house discussion.

 Until then, anyone  want to start talking about this issue now?

(Not) Living Together

In his book “The Big Sort,” journalist Bill Bishop takes a look at how Americans have sorted themselves out over the last 30 years. It’s not a red-state/blue-state division. The sorting that he’s looking at is taking place at the neighborhood level. Bishop’s thesis is that affluence and mobility have made it possible for us to live pretty much anywhere we want. Increasingly, he suggests, we are choosing to live in neighborhoods of like-minded people. “Given a choice,” he writes, “people will choose to read, be among, watch, live with, worship with, vote with, people who are like themselves.”

This sorting out is accelerated by the Internet. About eight million people log on to political blogs or partisan web journals every day, creating virtual communities of like-minded individuals who hear only from others who think like they do. Thus, we rarely find ourselves in spaces where we have conversations with people who don’t share our world view.

As we prepare for a much more culturally diverse metro region, what will we need to do to create those spaces where conversations among people of differing views can occur?

What new institutions and organizations we need to work across cultural boundaries to address regional challenges?

Full Disclosure

On April 13, in the New York Times, Abby Schultz points out that all three of the current presidential candidates say they are in favor of some type of cap on carbon emissions and astutely concludes that any such legislation could have significant impact on power companies.  More specifically, such caps will likely increase the cost of electricity generated through the burning of fossil fuels.

 

In the article, a senior analyst at Innovest Strategic Value Advisors suggests that not all of these costs will be able to be passed on to consumers.  Some of the costs will have to be absorbed by shareholders in the power corporations.  Obviously, some companies will be better prepared for carbon caps than others…and consequently a more attractive investment.  See our previous post “Carbon’s Gonna Get Expensive” which highlights the Big 3 financial institutions’ decision to more closely scrutinize loans for the construction of new carbon emitting power plants.

 

The Carbon Disclosure Project attempts to analyze the investment risk in corporations based on their environmental practices.  The organization has published a report for the last six years.  The report was published on behalf of 315 investors who manage assets worth $41 trillion.  This is enough to get anyone’s attention. 

 

One potential way of reducing the cost of the production of electricity, as well as a improving company’s rating in the Carbon Disclosure Project report is through investment in cleaner power generation technologies.

 

We understand that the looming carbon crises did not materialize over night.  It took decades for us to arrive at this point and will likely take decades for us to correct the problem.  But if we don’t start soon, where will be 50 years from now?

Join the Movement Towards Tomorrow Today

Atlanta’s not perfect. We’ve got a long way to go to become that idyllic international city. But every now and then we should take a deep breath and relax. Maybe, just maybe, we could even laugh about it.

 

This film humorously pokes fun at all of Atlanta’s faults. It’s a subtle spoof on Atlanta’s self-promotional tendencies and entertainingly tours all of the region’s shortcomings.

 

Warning: There’s one cussword and you WILL laugh out loud, especially at the part when the narrator talks about the bricks at Centennial Park. (“Their blood is the mortar that holds this city strong.”)

 

The film also playfully makes fun of the region’s love affair with branding slogans: “Atlanta, Yesterday’s City of Today. Because Tomorrow is Soon.”  

 

Hey, that’s not bad.

 

According to the YouTube page, “This film was created in 50 hours as a part of the 2008 Rapid i Movement Film Competition. It won 1st Place and will be seen at the 2008 Atlanta Film Festival.”

 

We love it. And we want more! PLEASE post links to any and all similar films here in the comment section. We’d love to see them.

We’re getting older. Will we be wiser?

The Atlanta region is experiencing the most profound demographic shift we have ever faced. By 2030, one out of every five residents will be over the age of 60, up from one in 10 today. We are not prepared for this new world.

 

The region’s housing is not ready to the support the changing needs and preferences of a growing older adult population. By 2040 fewer than 30 percent of households will have children, down from nearly half in 1960. The flip side is that the percentage of single-person households will swell to 30 percent. Between 2000 and 2040, the number of households without children is expected to grow by 80 percent

 

Factor in the numbers of older people who will give up their car keys, willingly or not, and we have a recipe for failure if we don’t build smaller homes, closer to each other and closer to services, and if we don’t figure out how people can get to where they need to go without a car.

 

While almost no one disagrees that we need more housing for seniors, many homeowners associations balk when a developer wants to build homes for seniors nearby. “Density” is a dirty word, and few want it in their backyard.

 

Between 2000 and 2040, the nation will invest $24 trillion in new residential construction. We have an unprecedented opportunity to build the kind of housing we need in our communities, but only if we re-imagine the way we live together.

 

Don’t you think it’s time to get started?

 

Choosing to be green?

Two researchers at the Kennedy School of Government have analyzed data relating to the purchase of hybrid cars between 2000 and 2006 to find out what motivates car buyers to spend upwards of $4,000 on hybrid technology. In “Giving Green to Get Green: Incentives and Consumer Adoption of Hybrid Vehicle Technology,” Kelly Sims Gallagher and Erich Muehlegger report that government incentives such as tax breaks account for very few sales of hybrid cars.

 

Inducements to driving green that have been tried around the country include allowing hybrid drivers to use HOV lanes (California, New Jersey) and waivers of public parking fees for hybrids (New Haven, CT and San Jose, CA). These have had little effect. More than tax credits, sales tax waivers seem to be the most effective in getting drivers to switch to hybrid technology, but even they accounted for only 6 percent of the 250,000+ hybrids sold in 2006.

 

While soaring gas prices resulted in 27 percent of hybrid purchases, the study found that idealism accounted for 36 percent of hybrid sales.

 

Whether they wish to leave a smaller carbon footprint, support greater energy security or simply to upstage their neighbors by being observably ‘green,’ more than a third of hybrid buyers are motivated by something other than money.

 

So what happens to the market for hybrid cars when the market for Priuses among environmentalists reaches a saturation point and gas prices drop, even a bit?

 

The Gallagher-Muehlegger study suggests that government policies that increase the price of gasoline may do more to motivate consumers to adopt hybrid technology than tax incentives.

 

What do you think?

 

Don’t just sit there, do something

At the end of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore urges us to change out our light bulbs. Such a small act in face of a big problem. Some might ask, “Why bother?”

 

There are a lot of reasons to bother, not the least of which is that small changes in behavior can make a big difference when millions of people adopt them. But as Michael Specter said, in a recent New Yorker piece on carbon footprints, “Personal choices, no matter how virtuous, cannot do enough. It will also take laws and money.”

 

Mr. Gore now has a new slide show about climate change. His message is not about changing light bulbs or buying hybrid cars. It’s about political action.

 

We won’t solve our climate crisis, he says, until we solve our democracy crisis. As citizens we have to demand action on the part of our government by contacting our elected officials, by showing up at public meetings, by paying attention to the debate and by shining light on the process.

 

When was the last time you sent an e-mail or a fax to an elected official weighing in on an issue, making the case for or against a piece of proposed legislation? More important, when was the last time you actually showed up in person to make your voice heard? When was the last time you actively campaigned for a candidate you admire, not simply sent them a check?

 

If we’re too busy to act, if we leave action to others, if we don’t demand change, maybe we really get the government we deserve.

Shall we put it to a vote?

This article, Don’t Railroad Taxpayers into Transit Subsidies, asserts that “…no rail line should be designed or constructed unless approved by majority vote at the ballot box.”

Good idea. After all, this is a democracy, right?

So the next logical step here is to make sure that a majority of the public is on board with any significant investment in new infrastructure. That would mean putting any new roads up to a vote, too. After all, it’s only fair.

Luckily, we do live in a democracy and we all do get to vote. But some people aren’t too keen on letting us vote on the issues that matter most to us.  In the last legislative session of the Georiga General Assembly, approval of a referendum on a consitutional amendment for a new transportation funding source failed.

A new survey by the Transit Planning Board indicates that there may be more interest in public transportation in the Atlanta region than many choose to believe.

Given the staggering growth projections for this region, given the aging of the population and their future transportation needs and given that we are, today, gridlocked, the least state leaders could do is allow citizens to choose whether or not they want to pay for transit services.

That’s just the bare minimum. That’s just a start.

Eventually, the folks who blocked the vote on the transportation sales tax may want to start thinking about how we’ll get around 50 years from now.

How do you envision the Atlanta region’s transport system 50 years from now?