An interesting read from The Economist…

“ENVIRONMENTALISTS are fiddling while Rome burns,” says Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm. “They get in the way with silly stuff like asking people to walk more, drive less. That is an increment of 1-2% change. We need 1,000% change if billions of people in China and India are to enjoy a Western, energy-rich lifestyle.” Forget today’s green technologies like electric cars, wind turbines, solar cells and smart grids, in other words. None meets what Mr Khosla calls the “Chindia price”—the price at which people in China and India will buy them without a subsidy. “Everything’s a toy until it reaches that point,” he says.

I’m sure not everyone will agree with me, but in my opinion, this argument is a big part of why the end-game of so many of our local efforts shouldn’t be “saving the environment” (aka “saving human civilization”).  Instead it should be something more along the lines of “build strong communities” and all of the potential environmental affects of density, walking more, etc, can then just be viewed as gravy.

UPDATE: Confirmed.

A source tells me that CSD will hold College Heights Pre-K lottery this coming Wednesday, March 16th at 11:45am at Westchester.

Working to confirm.

Oakhurst – Decatur, GA (pic submitted by Nancy)

Just received this City Schools of Decatur press release…

Decatur, GA (2011) – On Wednesday, March 9th the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools (SACS)/ AdvancED Quality Assurance Review (QAR) team reported the findings of their district assessment to the Decatur Board of Education. Based on their comprehensive review of the district, the team recommended that City Schools of Decatur should remain an accredited district. The QAR team praised the district on the standard of governance and leadership, stating that “board members and the superintendent have a strong, positive, collaborative relationship,” earning the district a rating of “highly functional” – the highest possible rating.

“I am thrilled with the report made by the Quality Assurance Review at our board work session,” said Decatur Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards. “It gives me great pride for our district to be referred to as ‘remarkable and phenomenal’ by the reviewers and to have the positive working relationship of our board to be recognized as exceptional.”

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