Category Archives: Georgia

Environmental Discourse – a rant.

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Trash bottles and construction equipment on construction site, Marietta, Atlanta, Georgia

Trash bottles and construction equipment on construction site, Marietta, Atlanta, Georgia

Hey Folks,

A word (or rant) about ‘pragmatists’.

How often do we hear people cloak their position in this language, smother their position and use the veil of ‘realism’ as a cover for rationale? The phrase “well, sure, that’s too bad, but we need to be pragmatic .. “ is so often merely an attempt to preserve the status quo. Rather than reach a little further, push a little harder, get a little creative, or honestly examine ourselves and the lives we lead, we fall back on language like “realistic” and “pragmatic” – neither of which solve a problem, and, ironically, express a position often seated on neither pragmatism or realism.

Conversations around environmental issues seem to invoke this veil all too often; “we’d love to leave the caribou alone, and let them roam on the coastal plain, but we need to be practical – realistically, we need oil.” An entire platform was built around this excuse for an unwillingness to change that supporters labelled “Wise Use” – it’s nonsense. Continue reading →

Fire Pink Wildflower photo, Georgia

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Fire Pink flower, North Georgia, Georgia - Silene virginica

Hey Folks,

Here’s another flower, the Fire Pink, from the Chattahoochee National Forest, North Georgia Mountains, Georgia. I took this one spring hike up in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, near the North Carolina border. Spring in the Appalachians is an amazing time, the biomass that is generated in the hardwood forests there in a couple of weeks is simply awesome. The woods go from bare and barren to an incredibly rich, diverse glut of biota in what seems like a couple of days. Walking through the deep green forest and seeing a red glow like this little flower is way cool. The red is so bright, I had to dull it down a little on the computer to make it not look overdone – it’s really an intense vibrant flower.

I think there was a push to make the Fire Pink the State Flower of Indiana, but I’m unsure if it ever went ahead. Fire Pinks should be the State Flower of some state, I can tell you that – they’re just way to cool not to be!

I was going to wait until springtime to post flowers, but my friend Ron Niebrugge is having such a whale of a time down in California shooting the bloom of the century in the desert, I didn’t want to be left out. Check out his blog right now for some downright NASTY wildflower photos! 🙂

Cheers

Carl

Chattooga River Photo, North Georgia Mountains.

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Chattooga River, whitewater paradise, Jawbone Rapid, Five Falls area, Georgia - South Carolina Border

Hey Folks,

I’ll maybe try to get one more post in here before I hit the road, so I’ll do 2 for today. This is a photo from the past. I’ve been catching up on some editing and web updates he last few weeks here, and haven’t really got out to shoot too much. As a result of that, I’ll try to post a couple of shots from years gone by that I like – and maybe even post a few of the countless thousands I didn’t like. 🙂 This photo was from an overnight trip a couple of years ago to the Chattooga River in north east Georgia. The Chattooga River defines the border between Georgia and South Carolina, and lies between the Sumter , Nantahala and Chattahoochee National Forests.

Congress designated the Chattooga River a “Wild and Scenic River” in 1974, and I’d attest to that designation. It’s both wild and scenic! The designation protects a corridor along the river for nearly 60 miles, though it’s somewhat silly Continue reading →