CRBI honors Greenie award winners
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Georgia is one of the organizations recognized.
The Coosa River Basin Initiative celebrated Earth Week by recognizing five entities who protected natural resources in Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama, according to a press release.
Among those recognized were Paragon Wool Products of Calhoun, the Georgia Alabama Land Trust, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Georgia, Forsyth County Parks & Recreation and the Chatsworth Water Works Commission.
“Each year CRBI recognizes outstanding achievement in water conservation, outdoor recreation, sustainability, land protection and innovation through its Greenie Awards,” the release stated. “Winners must do business in or reside in the upper Coosa River basin and their efforts must have a direct impact on the Coosa and or the rivers and streams feeding it.”
This year’s Water Conservation Greenie went to Boys and Girls Clubs in Dalton and Rome. The clubs implemented water conservation measures that reduced water use at club facilities by more than 70 percent, saving hundreds of dollars annually on water bills while setting an example for the youth they service.
Forsyth County Parks and Recreation was recognized with the Outdoor Recreation Greenie. In 2008, Forsyth County voters approved a $100 million bond to develop more parks in the county. Among those now under construction is Eagle’s Beak Park, a key link in the 163-mile-long Etowah River Water Trail.
CRBI awarded its Sustainability Greenie to the Chatsworth Water Works Commission. CWWC converted a vacant lot near their wastewater treatment plant into a one megawatt solar farm that now powers the wastewater treatment plant and the CWWC’s main office.
The Georgia Alabama Land Trust won the Land Protection Greenie. The Trust has worked with property owners throughout the region for years, assisting with the creation of conservation easements that have resulted in the permanent protection of more than 350,000 acres of land, including tens of thousands of acres within the upper Coosa River basin.
Paragon Wool Products in Calhoun received the Innovation Greenie. Makers of wool home insulation and other wool products, this upstart company sells high-end wool home insulation that is more efficient than traditional fiberglass and blow-in products while also being longer lasting, biodegradable, renewable and non-toxic.