A coalition of ten local environmental organizations hosted a Mayoral Candidate Forum on Energy and the Environment on Monday, April 27 at Athens-Clarke County Library at 2025 Baxter Street in Athens, GA.
All five mayoral candidates — including Mara Zuniga, Dexter Fisher, Sharon Miller, LaKeisha Gantt and Tim Denson — were in attendance. During the forum, mayoral candidates shared their views on environmental justice, climate resilience, clean and renewable energy, transportation and data centers.
Hosting organizations included the Coalition of Athens Scientists, Engineers & Scientists Acting Locally, the Southern Sustainability Institute, Science for Georgia, 100% Athens, the Athens Land Trust, Citizens Climate Lobby, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, C-Change Conversations Athens, the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy as well as the ACC Library. The forum was moderated by Olivia Asher of the Coalition for Athens Scientists.
0:00 – Intro
0:57 – Opening statements
6:30 – Climate resilience
17:19 – Moving towards 100% clean energy
27:07 – Clean water and rebuilding trust
38:35 – Walking, bikes, buses
49:55 – Data centers
1:02:00 – Solar subsidies and requirements
1:07:38 – Greenspace & housing
1:13:25 – Closing statements
The forum planning committee also sent a questionnaire about these same topics to the mayoral candidates and those running for the ACC Commission. You can read their responses here.
If you don’t have time to watch the forum yourself, Flagpole’s Lily Thomas wrote an article about it.
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