By Kimber Ray Dewayne Barton isn’t only referring to nature when he talks about changing the way people relate to their environment. “Just like we polluted a stream or a river, we also polluted communities, and [restoring communities] has to…
Blog Archives
Dewayne Barton: Building Opportunity in West Asheville
TAGS: Asheville clean energy Environmental Justice green jobs training Local business North Carolina Sustainable business weatherization
Bill Howley: Making Electricity Local
By Harrison Dreves In 1974, a trip to West Virginia changed the course of Bill Howley’s life. The recent Yale graduate was immediately entranced by the taste of blackberries, the view of receding ridgelines and the smell of Appalachia in…
Sara Day Evans: Accelerating Good Business
By Kimber Ray Although the environment and the economy are often painted as rival forces, Sara Day Evans never saw much sense in this argument. What she saw instead was a challenge — and an opportunity — to seek sustainable…
Matt Hepler: Charting a Path to Clean Water
By Molly Moore After studying geologic features and data, Matt Hepler maps out a handful of locations in the coal-bearing mountains of southwest Virginia. With a cooler full of empty water bottles, a scientific probe and a pair of waders…
Anna George: Aquatic Activist
By Peter Boucher When Anna George was a child, she would pester her mother to take her to zoos and aquariums. As she grew up, she conducted research in a variety of aquatic environments — from the Dauphin Sea Lab…
TAGS: Aquatic life Chattanooga environmental education Freshwater fish sustainability Tennessee wildlife conservation
Ada Smith: Giving Voice to Appalachia
By Kimber Ray Amidst the economic and social upheaval sweeping through Appalachia, art and media may seem like unexpected tools for approaching the challenges the region faces today. However, through her work with Appalshop — a media and cultural center…
Advancing a Creative Economy for the Clinch River Valley
By Kimber Ray In the remote coalfields of southwest Virginia, a collaborative grassroots project is taking on the challenge of balancing job creation and environmental conservation. The Clinch River Valley Initiative, conceived at an economic development forum in 2010, is…
TAGS: Clinch River Coal Economy grassroots Local business Sustainable business Virginia Water quality
Patricia Beaver: Pioneer Appalachian Scholar Retires
By Rachel Ellen Simon Patricia Beaver may not be a household name in all circles, but mention her name in a group of Appalachian scholars, and everyone will have a story to share. Beaver has been a leading scholar in…
TAGS: After Coal Appalachian Land Ownership Study Appalachian State University Appalachian Studies Center for Appalachian Studies Patricia Beaver Wales
Nathan Hall: Reclaiming Appalachia’s Land and Future
By Rachel Ellen Simon Nathan Hall was born in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, surrounded by lush hardwood forests, cool trout streams and barren moonscapes — the latter courtesy of mountaintop removal coal mining. “It was all around me, in…
TAGS: Coal mining Green Forests Work Kentucky mountaintop removal coal mining Nathan Hall reclamation reforestation
Charlie Jackson: Bringing Farms to Market
By Peter Boucher Charlie Jackson found a simple answer to the complex problems of regional agriculture. He founded the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project in 1995 to create new markets for mountain farmers who had lost their cash crop. Tobacco had…
TAGS: Agriculture appalachia local farming Local food North Carolina sustainability sustainable agriculture Tobacco
