2010 – Issue 4 (Dec/Jan)
Songbirds at Risk as Local Hemlocks Disappear
Story by Hannah Aleshnick With a face more yellow than green, the Black-throated Green Warbler can often be seen between delicately needled hemlock branches. The songbird’s olive markings streak across its head and back, the jet black bib is surrounded by a white belly and grey wing feathers. It is the second most common warbler…
Read MoreMining Our Heritage
Protest Songs Echo Coal Miners’ Lament Through the Decades Editor’s Note: In the coming issues, The Appalachian Voice will examine the deep roots of Appalachian folk music and how the songs and lyrics that have resonated around these mountains affected everyday life throughout the region. In this issue, the link between coal mining protests and…
Read MoreThe Eastern Wild Turkey
Trekking through the winter terrain Story by Jillian Randel As I rambled up the hill through the tree farm near my house, my dog heard the crunching noise before I did. It was the distinct sound of thousands of newly fallen leaves shuffling around. Something was trampling through the woods to our left. I saw…
Read MoreD.C. Team Thanks Citizens For Their Help in Congress
It is critical that the Appalachian people receive permanent protection in the form of a federal law that bans mountaintop removal because whatever the Obama Administration may choose to do, it could always be overturned by the next President. Congressional election season may be over, but that doesn’t mean the work for the Appalachian Voices…
Read MoreAV’s Riverkeeper Initiates Case Against Kentucky Coal Companies
Coalition Files NOIS Over Claims of Falsified Monitoring Data Appalachian Voices’ Upper Watauga Riverkeeper team assembled a lineup of heavy-hitting environmental groups in October to file suit against three Kentucky mining companies for violating the Clean Water Act. A coalition including Appalachian Voices, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Kentucky Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance filed a sixty…
Read MoreInside Appalachian Voices
AV Helps RAN Secure a Benny PNC and USB are the latest banks to issue strong statements about severely limiting their funding of mountaintop removal mining. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has been the main force behind this grassroots campaign to pressure banks to cease public financing of mountaintop removal mining projects. The Business Ethic Network…
Read MoreMusic on the Mountaintop Donates $5,500 to Help Appalachian Voices
Story by Megan Perdue The burgeoning annual Music on the Mountaintop festival (MOTM) recently donated $5,500 of their 2010 profits to Appalachian Voices. Festival organizer Jimmy Hunt shook hands with Appalachian Voices’ Executive Director Willa Mays (pictured center) to seal the deal in a special function attended by AV staff and board. Although new to…
Read MoreA Broken Relationship in Southern Appalachia
By Rev. Pat Watkins As Christians on this earth, we are called to be in relationships with God, with each other and with creation. We care for God’s people with a special place in our hearts for the poor, the oppressed, children and those who have no voice. But with so may other problems facing…
Read MoreAppalachia’s Christmas Future
If Charles Dickens were alive today spinning Christmas yarns, he would be writing about the health and well-being of Appalachia. He wouldn’t write about how industries “keep the lights on.” He’d worry about the grim conditions that keep the hospitals full and the environment foul. As Dickens heard demands for cuts in environmental and safety…
Read MoreGet Clean and Green Around the House
Home Remedies Both Old & New Story by Jillian Randel Walk through the cleaning aisle in the grocery store and you will find shelves upon shelves stocked with cleaning products. Gels meant to clean the toilet bowl, window spray for the mirror, a leave-on concoction for the shower and a separate solution for the sink.…
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