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More Than a Market
By Megan Northcote Shopping for fresh, locally grown foods at farmers markets is always a refreshing way to find healthy foods while supporting the community. But in recent years, some farmers markets have transformed from grocery store alternatives to tourist destinations, featuring cooking and artisan demonstrations, hands-on healthy living activities for children, and food and…
Read MoreFacing the Frontier: Practical Considerations for Genetic Modification in Appalachian Food
By Valerie Bruchon It sounds perfect: enter a laboratory, change one quality of a food crop through genetic technology, and walk away having created a “miracle” food source to help feed the world. This new crop might eradicate the need for destructive or unsustainable farming practices, or it could make farmland more productive by packing…
Read MoreMurky Rules Raise Questions About Coal Ash Minefill
By Brian Sewell When FirstEnergy Corporation announced plans last year to close Little Blue Run coal ash pond, a 1,700-acre unlined basin that sits along the banks of the Ohio River, nearby residents were understandably relieved. But not everyone was celebrating. The coal ash still has to go somewhere, and the Bruce Mansfield coal plant…
Read MoreConfronting Carbon Pollution
By Molly Moore Six months after declaring “climate change is a fact,” in his State of the Union address, President Obama prepared to unveil what The New Yorker calls “the policy centerpiece of his second term.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines that he was poised to announce at press time will put in motion…
Read MoreToxic Warnings: Recent Spills Underscore Lack of Water Oversight
By Kimber Ray In the early morning hours of Jan. 9, Kim Thompson was getting ready to leave her South Charleston home in Kanawha Co. — the most populated region in the mountains of West Virginia — and head out to her job as field supervisor for a local telecommunications company. As she twisted the…
Read MoreAppalachia’s Place in the War on Poverty
By Molly Moore Patsy Dowling considers herself a success of the War on Poverty. As a premature baby born in western North Carolina in 1964 — the same year President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty — Dowling entered a world where the medical bills from her early arrival were a steep financial burden…
Read MoreAttempts at Legislation, Regulation Follow Water Threats
By Molly Moore Almost as soon as West Virginia American Water Company ordered 300,000 residents to avoid contact with their tap water, the question arose: why was crude MCHM, a chemical now known to be highly toxic, so poorly understood and regulated? The lack of a clear answer brought national attention to the fact that…
Read MoreVolunteering in Appalachia: A Community Effort
Volunteering in Appalachia: A Community Effort By Kelsey Boyajian, Meredith Warfield and Emmalee Zupo Appalachia’s rich history of community unites this region. Whether it’s neighbors lending a hand in the yard, or a dedicated group joining together to clean up a local river, the tradition of service and volunteering is a way of life. The…
Read MoreHanding Off and Holding On: Melungeon Identity and Appalachia
By Kimber Ray Attempting to trace the origin of the Melungeon people is akin to pursuing the source of the Cumberland River coursing through their historical territory. Like the waters of the Cumberland Gap, where neighboring streams weave through Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia to meet among the rolling crests of the Appalachian Mountains, the Melungeons…
Read MoreMountaintop Removal Masquerade
Opponents of Proposed Surface Mine Highway Push for Environmental Review By Molly Moore Tim Mullins recalls what Pound, Va., was like in the 1970s — nestled in the commonwealth’s mountainous southwestern corner, it was a town of crowded sidewalks, ample schools and nary a parking spot to be found. Today, formerly bustling businesses are dilapidated…
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