The Soup Peddler Publishes

If it's true that we are leaving the era of cheap oil, then the societal down-/re-scaling we are approaching need not be something to be feared. The return to communal relationships, working intimately with your neighbors, localized food production and enterprise, and human empowerment through walking and biking may be the best thing that ever happened to us and provide us with healthier bodies and more satisfied spirits than we could ever hope to get from the current culture of amusing ourselves to death.

One messiah leading the way to this brave new (but familiar) world is David Ansel, The Soup Peddler of Austin, Texas. His new book, The Soup Peddler's Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes and Reveries is more than just a collection of recipes. Like he says in his book's introduction, "It's about how the mundane aspects of life, such as food and work, can be utterly consuming and rewarding, as long as they are humbly infused with your spirit and creativity. It's about how, when you involve your neighbors and friends in this joie de vivre, your community becomes an inspired and inspiring place. Finally, it's about how sharing yourself in this way foments tikkun olam, the repair of the world, which is a hopeful, participatory theory unto which one must cleave when civilization appears to be in rapid decline."

Visit The Soup Peddler online at www.thesouppeddler.com.

Eldrin Bell proposes Heritage Trail

Eldrin Bell wants Clayton County to be known for something besides political discord and youth violence. That's why Bell, the Clayton County Commission chairman, is proposing a Heritage Trail that will feature historic sites from the Civil War to the civil rights movement.

Bell announced the plan at a Clayton County Chamber of Commerce summit last week as part of a blueprint for economic growth in the county.

"Heritage is a word that's international, and I want to link the Heritage Trail tour with the proposed commuter rail line coming through the county," Bell said. "We have 181 historical sites in the county, and I envision drawing tourists to the county to see them."

While all the details have not been worked out, Bell's plans call for the trail to start in the Forest Park area where there is a proposed commuter rail stop and continue through Lovejoy to Macon.

"Economic development is best supplied by people from elsewhere. The Road to Tara Museum in Jonesboro, which has depictions from the Civil War, is the No. 1-visited site in the Atlanta area by people who don't live here," Bell said.

Read more...

Source: ajc.com

Georgia Tracks Facts

In an Aug. 8 editorial, "Don't railroad Amtrak," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution argued that "passenger rail is a transportation alternative worthy of Congress' support".... In an Aug. 23 AJC editorial, "Rail stuck in reverse," the newspaper chided the State Transportation Board for its reluctance to support Atlanta-Lovejoy train service, saying a decision to block the project would leave commuters "with little choice but to stew in their automobiles".... An editorial in McDonough's Daily Herald, "Let's support commuter rail," argued "a reasonably priced rail system could open up the counties south of Atlanta to tourists and others".... An 18-month study has concluded that commuter rail and light rail service could help ease congestion in and around Emory University in DeKalb County... Friends of the Beltline, a group that has been advocating a greenbelt-and-transit loop along railroad tracks surrounding downtown Atlanta, will merge with the Beltline Partnership, a new advisory committee appointed by Mayor Shirley Franklin... Ralph Reed, who is seeking the Republican nomination for Georgia lieutenant governor, has endorsed the Beltline plan... Gov. Sonny Perdue has appointed former Cobb County Judge G. Grant Bentley to review stalled contract negotiations between MARTA and its unionized workers... In what may come as a surprise to many outspoken MARTA critics in the Georgia General Assembly, the Government Finance Officers Association has awarded MARTA a Certificate of Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 11th straight year... MARTA added extra trains between Aug. 3 and Aug. 6 to handle crowds from Megafest and several other major events occurring in Atlanta during that period... Long-delayed work to renovate Macon's Terminal Station, expected to become a stop for revived Atlanta-Macon train service, could begin shortly... The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is dropping its weekly "Horizon" section, which focused on local transportation and development issues; the newspaper says it will continue to cover those topics in its regular news pages.

Source: Jim Dexter, The Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers

James Howard Kunstler on Rail

America today has a railroad system that the Bulgarians would be ashamed of. Neither of the two major presidential candidates in 2004 mentioned railroads, but if we don't refurbish our rail system, then there may be no long-range travel or transport of goods at all a few decades from now. The commercial aviation industry, already on its knees financially, is likely to vanish. The sheer cost of maintaining gigantic airports may not justify the operation of a much-reduced air-travel fleet. Railroads are far more energy efficient than cars, trucks or airplanes, and they can be run on anything from wood to electricity. The rail-bed infrastructure is also far more economical to maintain than our highway network.

- The Long Emergency