Announcements - Introduction to the Chatham Environmental...

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Introduction to the Chatham Environmental Forum from the Chair

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Since the late 1980s, the Chatham Environmental Forum has been quietly assisting the community in tackling some of the area’s most challenging environmental issues. In October of 2007, The Chatham County Commission passed a resolution calling for Chatham County to become the “greenest county” in Georgia. In doing so, the Commission requested the CEF take on the project and begin developing a County- wide plan for achieving the stated goal.

Beginning in 2008, the Chatham County Commission funded the effort with $50,000.00 and the CEF began the plan development process. Rocky Mountain Institute was selected to facilitate a meeting of all CEF members where the most pressing environmental issues facing the County could be discussed and prioritized. Coming out of this facilitation was the top ten priority areas to be included in the first edition of the plan to make Chatham the “greenest county”. From that top ten list, seven topic committees were formed and began holding meetings with its members and interested citizens of Chatham County. The seven topic committees are currently addressing the following environmental priorities:

Transportation (to include Transportation connections and Mass Transit)
Energy Efficiency (includes related topics to energy)
Climate Change
Water Management
Greenspace, Parks, Trees and Concentration of Land Use
Building a Creative Infrastructure
Solid Waste Management

The CEF plans to deliver its first draft of the County “Green” Plan to the Commission in December of 2008. The CEF foresees the Plan to be a living document that will continually be updated and refined in order to achieve the County’s stated goal of becoming the “greenest county” in Georgia.

Check out the posted CEF committee pages and our calendar for the next committee meeting dates.

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Chatham Environmental Forum