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iLoveMountains Launches Obama–First 100 Days
New Campaign Asks the President-elect To End Mountaintop Removal During the recent presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama pledged to end mountaintop removal coal mining. iLoveMountains.org is asking Obama to deliver on his promise. On December 3, 2008, iLoveMountains.org launched a major campaign asking President-elect Obama to end mountaintop removal coal mining – and to do…
Read MoreSunroots at Solstice Time
By R. Kelly Coffey As the sun weakens at the end of the growing season and flowering plants fade to brittle remnants, gardeners and wildflower lovers resign themselves to a few months estranged from nature’s brilliant colors. But one wildflower – the Jerusalem artichoke – can satisfy the appetite in winter if not the eye.…
Read MoreLetters to the Editor
Damascus is not the only town on the AT Dear Editor, I have very much enjoyed and learned from Appalachian Voices for a long time. I usually pickup issues at our local co-op, Tennessee’s only community-owned grocery store: Three Rivers Market in Knoxville, TN. Keep up the excellent work! I wanted to point out an overstatement in the article…
Read MoreClean Water Protection Act Gains Sponsors, Gives Hope
HR 2169, more simply known as the Clean Water Protection Act, was introduced May 3, 2007 by Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) with Christopher Shays (R-CT) and 61 other co-sponsors. The bill would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify that fill material cannot be comprised of mining waste, thereby making illegal the practice…
Read MoreOnward and Upward, Mary Anne Hitt!
Appalachian Voices’ Executive Director Takes New Position With Sierra Club This November, Appalachian Voices’ executive director Mary Anne Hitt will begin a new job in Washington, DC, as the deputy director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. Mary Anne has served as executive director of Appalachian Voices since early 2004. She oversaw the growth…
Read MoreThere’s No Place Like Home for the Eastern Box Turtle
By Bill Kovarik He was probably on his way to the creek. It had been a dry summer, and I heard him scratching down the hill, headed for water with speed and a sense of determination that seemed rare in a turtle. As I pulled out the camera and caught his indignant glare, I was…
Read MoreLetters to the Editor
Appalachian Voice welcomes letters to the editor and comments on our website. We run as many letters as possible, space permitting. The views expressed in these letters, and in personal editor responses, are not necessarily the views of the organization Appalachian Voices. Write to editor@appvoices.org. Article ignores benefits of natural gas Dear Editor, I have…
Read MoreEditorial
Carthage and Kentucky When Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, do you suppose they tried to sell their citizens on the virtues of salty land? Did they tell them that the salt-laden fields of Carthage were just brimming with opportunities for new hospitals and businesses? If that sounds absurd, consider this bit of rhetoric from…
Read MorePrescriptions for an Enlightened Energy Policy
A Voice interview with Jay Hakes, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, former head of the Energy Information Administration, and author of a new book: A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy, and the Environment. Story by Bill Kovarik There is a moment in serious…
Read MoreIndian Trails of Appalachia
By Kathleen Marshall & Lamar Marshall This map is a snapshot of the major trails and roads centered around western North Carolina in the late 18th Century. (A New and General Map of the Southern Dominion Belonging to the United States of America, Laurie & Whittle, London, 1794. Courtesy of the David Rumsey Collection) .…
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