2008 – Issue 4 (June)
Appalachian 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 MoreTennessee students protest carbon capture plans
Climate change legislation, if it ever comes, should not include “clean coal research” said Tennessee activist groups, including Save Our Cumberland Mountains and Students Promoting Environmental Action in a protest this May. Instead of focusing on coal research, investments should be directed toward alternative, renewable energy technologies, the students said. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)…
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…
Read MoreNatural gas: Endangered species law bypass considered for pipelines
The pipelines are located primarily in Appalachia and central Ohio, but also include 17 states (See map page 12). The scale of the management program is unprecedented, and the permit would cover a half mile- corridor on either side of a pipe. The significance of the permit program is that while natural gas production booms…
Read MoreAppalachian Writers Coop honors poet Rita Riddle
Colleague, teacher, friend, poet, Rita Riddle made an art of nurturing community. After her death in the fall of 2006, one of these communities, the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative (SAWC), decided to honor her by funding the publication of her last book of poetry, All There Is to Keep. Bob and Beto Cumming of Iris…
Read MoreEditorials
Fighting for their Future By the van load, by bus, on foot, they came to Richmond Virginia to confront Dominion Power, one of the last great bastions of the old fossil regime. Under a gray sky they unfurled the mile-long petition, and shared their laughter, their music and their fears for the future. They were…
Read More