Feature: Linking Lands and Communities

Land-of-Sky Regional Council (LOSRC) is working with individuals and organizations across a four-county region to develop a regional plan to ensure that our natural and cultural resources are preserved and that our economy, derived from these and other resources, remains healthy. The science-based plan will contain maps that identify areas valuable because of their ecological systems and services—including farmlands, forests, water resources, wildlife habitat and recreation areas—and areas that are most suited for future growth and development.…

Feature:
Atlanta's Smart Growth

The Atlanta region has been a national leader in attracting growth and development over the past few decades. The core 10-county Atlanta region has added an average of 84,000 persons per year since 2000, numbers only slightly less than during the unprecedented growth of the 1990s. To put this in perspective, the region’s average annual increase this decade is greater than the average increase for 43 states.

While growth in metro Atlanta is critical to support economic vitality, many in the region are working to ensure that new development supports a region that is vibrant.…

Feature: Wish Granted: A Peaceful Holiday Get- Together

Computers are big parts of our lives—from work to home, we truly put them to use. However, when they become damaged or left to disentegrate in a landfill, toxins contained within them begin to leach into the ground and eventually find their way into our drinking water. For example, CRT monitors, or traditional computer monitors, and circuit boards contain several pounds of lead, cadmium and mercury—not the kind of stuff we want to be drinking. To make matters worse, the lifespan of the average computer is getting shorter…

Feature: Good (& Green) Neighbor Guide Revisited

I think neighborhood land use can be a petri dish for the survival of modern civilization, because the key to the best solution for everyone rests on one simple principle: cooperation. For example, to my knowledge, neither North Carolina nor Georgia have sun access rights laws. That means someone can legally block the sun hitting your house, solar electric panels or solar hot water collectors. In other words, you can build the most efficient passive solar house with the latest active solar technologies only to have your neighbor come along and erect some large structure next door that prevents the sun from hitting and therefore activating all of that wonderful design.…

BUY LOCAL: CAROLINAS: Tailgate Markets and CSA Listings