Archive for June 2008
Naturalists Notebook – Switchgrass
You’ve probably driven by fields full of switch grass a hundred times and never known it. Varieties of the warm season grass – Panicum virgatum – can be found all over the Southeast and the Midwest. Switch grass looks humble enough in the spring, but by autumn it can be six to ten feet tall.…
Read MoreLetters to the editor
Dear Editor, Every article is different, stimulating, provocative, and something you won’t find anyplace else. Thanks. Su Clauson-Wicher Chilhowie, VA Dear Appalachian Voices, Finally, my Economic Stimulus “Kicker” from the Federal Gov’t. came, and I was able to donate part of it to your fine organization. I would love to encourage others who received a…
Read MoreNatural gas — Appalachia’s other energy dilemma
Stand on a ridgeline in southwestern Virginia. You’ll see lush hardwood forests, dark-green groves of rhododendron, blue skies … and square, neat clearings, marked by green tanks and red well heads. They dot almost every ridge, every nook and knob in the mountainous terrain. Look directly overhead, and you might also be standing under a…
Read MoreDominion must change, citizens say
Several hundred citizens from Wise County and around Virginia rallied in early May to oppose a controversial coal fired power plant in Wise county. The message was not simply one of opposition. Speaker after speaker urged Dominion to change its policies and face the future. The rally was held in the shadow of the Dominion…
Read MoreAppalachian Trail Days celebrated in Damascus, VA
If you start at the southern end of the Appalachian Trail, say sometime around mid-March, you can walk northbound right along with the leading edge of the spring season, just as if you’d packed along some pixie dust to be sprinkled liberally on the budding flowers and leaves that line your path. Making reasonable progress…
Read MoreCare of Creation …People of Diverse Faiths Gather at Center for the Environment at Catawba College
An evangelical Christian quoted a Hindu. A rabbi came to the table with an Episcopal priest. The cause that brought them together with 300 others from diverse faith traditions was a commitment to care for the environment. They gathered May 29 thru 31 at the Center for the Environment at Catawba College in Salisbury to…
Read MoreFaith community’s stewardship is inspiring
A couple of years ago a question posed by the Christian community was, “What would Jesus drive?” Well, if he were making that decision in our 2008 world, there’s a good chance he’d drive a Toyota Prius or another variety of hybrid. At least that’s what I deduced at the recent Conference on Faith, Spirituality,…
Read MoreWind plan advances in WV
The groups have been organizing support for the Coal River Mountain Wind Project since April. The groups include Coal River Mountain Watch, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club, “The Coal River Wind Project is a clear choice between a clean renewable energy future and a dirty destructive threat to the…
Read MoreAppalachian Mountains Preservation Act introduced in NC Legislature
MAY 27 RALEIGH, NC – Representative Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) and Appalachian Voices announced the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act, a bill to end the use of coal obtained from mountaintop removal mining – a controversial form of strip mining. If passed, North Carolina would be the first state in the nation to implement such legislation. “Right…
Read MoreNatural gas – A new rush for Appalachia’s supergiant Marsella gas field
A scramble to lease natural gas drilling rights is underway in Appalachia following the discovery of super-giant natural gas reserves more than a mile below the surface. “This has come out of the night like a freight train,” said Pennsylvania State University geoscientist Terry Engelder. The Appalachian gas reserves may exceed 500 trillion cubic feet…
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