2005 – Issue 1 (February)
Action Alert! Help Stop Rollbacks of Clean Air Laws
As the 109th Congress launches its session, the administration in Washington is clearly determined to advance new air pollution laws that will undermine the existing Clean Air Act. Their first attempt comes in the form of the Clear Skies Act, a bill with a misleading name that would actually allow more air pollution and delay…
Read MoreToxic Lakes of Goo and You
Members of Coal River Mountain Watch, concerned coalfield residents and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition are working together on a “Sludge Safety Project,” www.sludgesafety.org. The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation is funding the initiative. Focusing on West Virginia, the project’s goals are to push for state policy changes that will better protect coalfield residents and people…
Read MoreAppalachian Treasures Project Launched
In March, Appalachian Voices and Coal River Mountain Watch will begin touring the country to build a national network of people who will work together to protect coalfield communities from mountaintop removal. Dubbed the Appalachian Treasures Project, the effort will feature a multimedia presentation and the personal testimony of residents of Appalachia’s coalfields, who will…
Read MoreOne Valley, Two Worlds
Climbing the steps at C.D. Owen High School in Black Mountain, NC, as hundreds of my classmates do each morning, offers two unique and contrasting perspectives. Looking straight ahead, as most do when preparing to start their school day, we see the rigid vertical and horizontal lines of the school’s modern facade-the carefully laid cinder…
Read MorePersonal Geography
We are marked by the place we call home, not the house or people (though that is true, too), but by the land. I am the daughter of the mother of mountains, child of this earth’s oldest river, suckled by Appalachian breasts, sung to sleep by New River’s roar. The road ended, petered out, at…
Read MoreIn Search of the Pileated Woodpecker
Both the sight and sound of a pileated woodpecker are unforgettable. The call of the bird has always struck me as jungle-like, sounding more like a chattering monkey than a chirping bird. Most folks who spend any amount of time outdoors will probably recognize the sound, even if they cannot identify the source. Its exotic…
Read MoreStates Should Step In to Safeguard the Mountains
As this issue of the Appalachian Voice goes to press, the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is poised to vote on the Clear Skies Act. Despite its misleading name, Clear Skies would actually make air pollution worse by allowing the release of greater amounts of pollutants like mercury, while delaying clean up…
Read MoreThe First Appalachian Journey
A country road in the west of Scotland. I look out at the sweep of field and forested hills surrounding us, and I feel a sense of calm. “It looks right,” I say. A month later I went home to southwest Virginia with a photograph of that landscape of Scottish countryside, and I passed it…
Read MoreHarlan County Goes to Hollywood….Again
Late last year, I was invited to Lincoln Center in New York City to attend the premiere of a restored edition of the 1976 film “Harlan County, USA.” The original film print had begun to deteriorate, and an organization called the Women’s Film Preservation Fund had taken on the job of saving this American classic.…
Read MorePowerline Paths
images/voice_uploads/PowerlineCutCircle.gif From the ground, they are long, barren alleys into the forest, sometimes narrow, sometimes as wide as an interstate, and always ugly. From the sky, they are strands of thread traversing the fabric of the land, stitches that both render and join. And in our towns and cities, these lines parallel streets and are…
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