The remainder of the first day for the Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee was spent in smaller focus groups based upon regional groups. First we broke into urban, suburban and rural subgroups to discuss issues that pertain to each place. Then we broke into statewide regional groups. Western, Middle and Eastern Tennessee had separate confabs dealing with issues of environmental importance that each part of the state are dealing with. There was some discussion by those of us in Middle Tennessee to hold a Middle Tennessee focused gathering sometime in the next year to delve deeper into issues pertinent to our region. In the past year, both Eastern and Western Tennessee had their regional summits dealing with environmental issues and those groups presented their reports which covered both the problems and the opportunities that were discussed.
There was much discussion on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the state of Tennessee when it comes to environmental, economic development and energy issues. Each region of Tennessee has much to bring to the conversation when it comes to the environment. The key is to become involved and engaged in the process, rather than allowing apathy to take over. More tommrrow for day two.
