If you’ve ever seen what you thought was a gray squirrel on steroids, what you actually saw was most likely a fox squirrel. This bushy-tailed, colossal squirrel is common throughout most of Appalachia, but was not seen in the North Carolina mountains in several decades — until relatively recently.
By Molly Moore While on a class field trip to a New York City supermarket, Meena Joshi spies a box of okra, one of her favorite foods in her native India. Emblazoned with the word “KENTUCKY,” the box displays mountains…
By Brian Sewell Even before opening Mary Hamilton’s ode to storytelling, the rustcolored cover, adorned with a rocking chair and the kind of rustic text that might be carved in a tree, invites the reader into a world of oral…
By Brian Sewell Appalachia’s favorite bird, the golden-winged warbler, has been selected as one of seven focus species by a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that aims to reverse population…
By Matt Wasson According to a report released at the end of 2011, the 112th Congress had achieved, in just its first year, the dubious distinction of running the most anti-environmental legislative session in history. The report, conducted by Representatives…
By Brian Sewell On March 15, when a campaign called N.C. Real Solutions launched, it came with a 30 second television spot aimed at North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue. The ad claimed that the new state legislature’s budget, which Perdue…
By Molly Moore Conversations about blowing up mountains for easier access to coal or risking offshore oil spills to boost a corporation’s bottom line spark passions in a way that those about financing energy efficiency retrofits don’t. But wherever national…
By Paige Campbell Nearly three-quarters of a million jobs were lost in Appalachia between 2007 and 2009. All but 35 of the region’s 420 counties, as designated by the Appalachian Regional Commission, saw negative employment trends during that lowest low…
By Paige Campbell “We meet people where they are.” That’s how Sarah Carter describes the philosophy of Asheville, N.C.’s Green Opportunities, a training institute for the growing green-collar jobs sector. Just how substantially that sector is growing is the subject…
