100 Miles Behind Us!

Deep in the hollows of WV, something miraculous is happening… If we fail as parents, we have failed as Americans – Bo Webb Grandfather Ed Wiley is no traditional environmentalist, child rights advocate, or political activist. His history and his heritage run deep into the coal encrusted veins of the Appalachian Mountains. Ed Wiley has…

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Craftsman’s wood may floor you

[Wisconsin] A former forestry consultant for clients such as Marshall Erdman & Associates, Birkemeier, who grew up on Madison’s west side, has since become a pioneer, specializing in sustainable wood floors and solar-powered wood-drying kilns. His cutting practices are more aptly called lifting practices, as more often than not, his timber is found lying on…

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Blast Rites

Grist has an amazing story about all the family cemeteries and burial grounds that are being destroyed by mountaintop removal. Including Larry Gibson’s, which I saw last month. Larry says that over 100 wooden crosses have been thrown over the canyon walls below his family cemetery. The Girst article is an essential read. Because the…

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Marsh Fork Elementary Public Hearing (Take 2)

On Monday July 24th, community members of the Coal River Valley and concerned citizens from all over the mountains sent a resounding message to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that they would do whatever it took to keep a 2nd coal silo from being built illegally close to their children at Marsh…

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The Signifigance of Forty Days

Grandfather Ed Wiley will spend 40 days and nights traveling from Charleston, WV to Washington, DC. He will endure record-setting summer heat, extreme and debilitating fatigue and hunger, and exhaustion the likes of which many of us have never felt. Fortunately, this puts Ed in some pretty good company! The good book has some important…

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Things Unexpected: 08-07-06 edition

“…it is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air. We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels. If we are contributing to the destruction of the planet we need to do something about it.” -Pat Robertson Well…I guess thats everybody.

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The Appalachian Word

Loving Men, Loving Mountains (Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia) JEFF MANN Ohio University Press, $19.95 ISBN 0-8214-1650-2 Strangely enough, despite the supposed mainstream popularity of the film version of Annie Proulx’s short story, Brokeback Mountain, nonfiction memoirs and portraits of gay love affairs in rural areas are still searching for a foothold in the publishing…

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Day 6 (AM): finding the big cats

Thunder and lighting stayed our constant companions on the night of Day 5. Ed walked blisters and all another 16.5 miles. We spent the night once again on the Elk River, in what some would call a torrential downpour. As Jordan and I retired to our tents, Ed stayed awake to watch the lighting and…

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40 Days for the Children (Days 3-5)

Howdy folks! Forget this computer stuff! Im on my way to walk with Ed! Heres the report from the road I forgot my ED quote of the day. So the temp is somewhere around 95 degrees, driving ahead to make some noise for Ed, i discovered a hill that rose sharply for about a mile…

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40 Days for the Children (Day 3)

Things are swingin for Ed in the “serious backroadage” of West Virginia as he makes his trip from The WV capitol of Charleston to Washington DC. Visit our friends at Pennies of Promise to learn mroe about Ed and why an grandfather would walk 455 miles in the heat of summer so that his grandkids…

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