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| This Week's Titles: |
| County
Working To Take Care Of Their Water Supply |
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College Has Record Fall
Enrollment |
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| Sunflower
Research Could Produce Alternative Fuel |
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| Fall
Weather Outlook Dry For Georgia |
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| Water
Concerns Caused By Increased Urbanization |
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| County
Working To Take Care Of Their Water Supply |
1:36 |
A county in North Central Georgia
is providing tender loving care to a precious resource. |
As the population in Coweta
County continues to increase, it puts additional stress on the
counties water supply. To help protect Coweta County's water
resources, several educational workshops, classes, displays,
and a Rivers Alive project were held. Stephanie Butcher, a county
extension agent in Coweta County says the recent drought further
increased the importance of proper water management. "Because
of the extended drought that we've been in, I feel like it's
been on the forefront of people's minds and it's really something
that they're accepting now and we've done rain barrel programs
and self watering container programs and this past year we've
teamed up with several different county departments as well
as some concerned citizens to create what we call a county water
team." That was Stephanie Butcher with the University of Georgia's
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Through
these educational efforts, residents in Coweta County now have
a better understanding of practices that can improve water conservation,
and storm water reduction, to protect this precious resource.
John Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| College
Has Record Fall Enrollment |
1:37 |
The University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences set a record this
fall for student enrollment. |
The numbers are now official.
The college has 2,002 students. Out of this total number, 1,532
are undergraduate students. Dr. Joe Broder, the associate dean
for academic affairs with the University of Georgia's College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences says there was also
a thirteen percent increase in graduate students. He adds new
majors are attracting students into the college. "Huge area
is in the pre-health, lot of pre-vet, a lot of students see
our college as a good platform for medical school in the health
profession. Professions in the environment, food safety, those
are new areas that attract students, and so they see us as a
good way to get into those careers." Dr. Joe Broder with the
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, who adds
agricultural engineering, agribusiness, environmental management,
and horticulture continue to be popular majors. An abundance
of high-paying jobs are available to students graduating with
a degree from the college. College of Agricultural and Environmental
Science graduates had the highest starting salaries in the workplace
among University graduates. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Sunflower
Research Could Produce Alternative Fuel |
1:35 |
Research by college scientists
on sunflowers may help fuel our future energy needs. |
Commercial sunflower production
is limited in Georgia. That's not the case worldwide. Reports
indicate sunflowers are farmed on more than sixty million acres
around the world. Scientists with the University of Georgia's
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are conducting
research to unlock the genetic secrets of sunflowers. By working
with sunflower genes, they hope to develop sunflower varieties
that produce wood, which will produce alternative fuels. "What
we're trying to do now is understand the genetics behind that
so that we can produce materials that the seed industry could
use to produce these kind of wood producing or high bio-mass
type hybrids. Their focus in the past has been on producing
sunflower for seed oil production, but what we're looking at
now is more of a bio-mass type crop, at totally different type
of sunflower." That was Steve Knapp with the College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. A lot more research will be needed,
and transferring genes from one sunflower plant to another will
be a challenge. But it could lead to an increase in commercial
sunflower production in Georgia, and reduce our dependance on
foreign oil. John Harrell, University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Fall
Weather Outlook Dry For Georgia |
1:31 |
It appears drought conditions
will make a comeback in Georgia this fall. |
After receiving beneficial
rains from Tropical Storm Faye in late August, hot, dry weather
returned. David Stooksbury, the state climatologist and professor
of engineering at the University of Georgia says the fall months
are typically dry across the state. But this fall could be even
drier than normal. "The pattern that we are seeing this fall
has been dry even by fall standards. Right now in at least the
next couple of weeks we do not see any major changes in that
pattern that would indicate that the dry fall that we are experiencing
will not continue." David Stooksbury with the College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, who adds stream and river flows
are still at record low levels in North Georgia. Widespread
relief from tropical cyclones decrease as we move into October.
It's also too early to tell if winter rains will bring relief
in 2009. So it now appears the fall of 2008 will bring more
dry weather to the state, and keep the drought alive and well
in North and Central Georgia. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Water
Concerns Caused By Increased Urbanization |
1:39 |
Spreading concrete caused by
increased urbanization is causing more water concerns in the
state. |
Every year, more of Georgia
gets covered in concrete, especially in Atlanta and other urban
cities. This development ripples down and affects where water
finally ends up. Liz Kramer, a scientist with the University
of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
says increased urbanization causes more rainwater to flow across
concrete and other solid surfaces. Many of these surfaces contain
pollutants that the water picks up before rushing into storm
drains, and later streams and rivers. "With urbanization comes
more cars, and anything that drips out of your car potentially
can flow into our rivers and streams as non-point source pollution.
We actually see increases of certain herbicides and pesticides
in urban streams, larger increases than we do in more rural
agricultural settings." Liz Kramer with the College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Pollution is a big problem, but
losing farmland and forests to urban sprawl is a bigger problem.
Since rainwater runs off into storm drains, it can't get into
the ground. Since less water flows through the ground, it can't
use the dirt to get clean before flowing into aquifers and streams.
John Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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