Religious support for the swamp

– November 15, 2023 –

Good morning. This week in Coast Watch we look at the intersection of religion, big business and the environment at the Okefenokee Swamp. We also have some advice on how being lazy about raking leaves can benefit your yard, plus a story on what a new federal climate report says about Georgia. Let’s go.

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Shareholders support Okefenokee

The Felician Sisters of North America last week filed shareholder proposals at The Chemours Company and Sherwin-Williams aimed at making the companies think twice about any association with proposed titanium mining along the eastern boundary of the Okefenokee. That’s where Alabama-based  Twin Pines Minerals LLC is seeking state environmental permits to mine a 740-acre area that comes within three miles of the Okefenokeee National Wildlife Refuge, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports.. 

After a similar action in 2021, Chemours — which owns mining subsidiary Southern Ionics Minerals that operates in Georgia — pledged to refrain from doing business with Twin Pines for five years. The sisters are looking for a permanent commitment. They added the Sherwin-Williams shareholder action because the paint giant is a huge consumer of one of the main products expected from the strip mine, the pigment titanium dioxide.

It turns out the Felician Sisters aren’t the only religious group concerned about the fate of the Okefenokee. Georgia Interfaith Power and Light is organizing a state-wide, clergy-led prayer vigil from 9-10 a.m. Dec. 6 at the Suwannee Canal “for the survival of the swamp and for decision-makers to have the wisdom and leadership to protect this sacred space for future generations.” The prayer vigil will be led by Folkston native Rev. Antwon Nixon, pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Folkston, and followed by a boat tour of the swamp. See GIPL’s website for more information and to register for the boat tour.

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Leave the leaves

With the coast’s abundance of evergreens, palms and live oaks, we don’t have quite the same autumn leaf deluge as our inland and northern counterparts. But there are enough leaves dropping by Thanksgiving that raking or blowing and bagging them becomes a chore for many residents, especially suburban ones. But there’s a movement afoot to wind down this practice, as Susan Barton, professor of plant and soil sciences at the University of Delaware, explains in The Conversation. She suggests raking leaves into flower beds or chopping them up in place with a lawn mower to allow them to feed your lawn and provide cover for beneficial insects.

“If you rake up your leaves, put them in a black plastic bag and have them taken off to a landfill, then they never get to decompose and return those nutrients and organic matter back to the soil,” she said. “Instead, you’re taking what could be a resource and making it a problem.”

This less-is-more stance is reminiscent of a successful recent effort in McIntosh County to cut back on mowing and herbicide spraying to control roadside vegetation. The result has been more fall color of the floral variety.

“The roadside ditches of Shellman Bluff Rd are alive right now with yellow and purple wildflowers – at 45 mph, I wasn’t able to identify them but they are a pleasure to behold. It’s worth a trip if you’re in the area,” wrote Mark Yeager on the “Don’t Spray McIntosh” Facebook page. “This is the first year of the new mowing schedule that preserves spring and fall wildflowers for migrant species, while adding to the special beauty of McIntosh County that we can all expect in the future.”

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Report lays out cost of climate change

The Fifth National Climate Assessment, the federal government’s leading report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses, came out Tuesday. It paints a picture of increasing challenges across the U.S. In Georgia, more days of punishing heat and heavier rains coupled with longer dry spells are expected to exacerbate difficulties for minority and poor communities that are already vulnerable, as Emily Jones of WABE/Grist and Marisa Mecke of WABE report.

The report calls for deeper emissions cuts and faster adaptation.

“We cannot afford to do nothing and wait for perfect answers, because at the same time, the human volcano’s putting out more and more carbon,” said Pam Knox, an agricultural climatologist at the University of Georgia and a co-author of the NCA Southeast chapter. “As long as that’s happening, we’re trying to play catch up.”

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Also noted:

• The Weyerhaeuser timber company last month applied for an expedited air permit to allow the construction of a new log fumigation operation near Riceboro in Liberty County. The operation will emit up to 20,000 pounds of methyl bromide per year, making it one of the largest emitters of methyl bromide in the nation. Methyl bromide is listed as a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act. The public can submit comments on the facility and its application by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17. Comments can be submitted by email to epd.comments@dnr.ga.gov (include “Air permit application” in the subject line).

• Camden County continues to spend on spaceport-related issues, more than 18 months after voters rejected the county’s plan to build a commercial rocket launch facility. On Nov. 9 the county filed a notice of appeal of the case it recently lost against Union Carbide, the owner of the property where Camden planned to site the spaceport. The Atlanta law firm that filed on behalf of Camden charges up to $750 an hour for its services.

• Sapelo Island’s Hogg Hummock is expected to be among the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2024 list of Georgia’s 10 Places of Peril, which will be announced on its website at 10 a.m. this morning. The Gullah-Geechee community is facing recent zoning changes that threaten to push historic landowners out of the community.

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If you have feedback, questions, concerns, or just like what you see, let us know at staff@thecurrentga.org.

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