Featured
Eco-Champions
Eight Reasons Why The Future is in Good Hands Check out these Eco-Champions: • Chloe and Elijah Rose • Ben Stockdale • Olivia Stegall • Daniela Berry • Bailey Wells, Tristan Ginter and the West Carter Middle School Science Club • Birke Baehr • Ashley Phykitt • Cory Coots, Angel Hill, Ellie Hogg, Jade…
Read MoreGrade Green
By Paige Campbell The school day has officially ended at Castlewood High School. But at the Wetlands Estonoa Outdoor Learning Center four miles away in St. Paul, Va., it’s hard to tell. Seventeen Castlewood students are still engrossed in their water testing tools and trail maintenance equipment. “Wrap it up, guys,” teacher Terry Vencil calls…
Read MoreClimate in the Classroom
Scientists and science educators overwhelmingly agree that climate change is real and that part of science education is informing students about that reality. Appalachian educators are up to the challenge.
Read MorePrescription to Play
By Brian Sewell Once upon a time, on an ordinary fall afternoon after returning home from school, the kids from the neighborhood would get together. They might take to a nearby creek or hike to a secret fort deep in the woods. There, kingdoms were conjured, epic battles fought and the innocence of chilhood imagination…
Read MoreTeaching the Natural World
By Molly Moore It’s 9:30 a.m., and the sun has yet to offer its full warmth to the fifth-grade class clustered along the bank of the North Toe River in Spruce Pine, N.C. Several students warily eye the chilly current and one girl pulls her arms into her sweatshirt, insulating herself from the cool morning.…
Read MoreBidding Farewell to a Mountain of a Man
By Lenny Kohm Larry Gibson was an exceptional man – a warrior for the mountains that he loved, an advocate for justice, and a mentor to the thousands of people all across the country who joined with him in his struggle to end the daily tragedy that is mountaintop removal coal mining. I first met…
Read MoreHidden Treasures #3 — Waterways
Welcome to the third installment of our exploration of some of the most beautiful, off-the-beaten-path places in the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountains. In this issue, we hand picked some water-related hot spots perfect for late summer days: hikes, waterfalls, swimming holes and everything in between — areas that are perfect for dipping your toes, or your whole self, into the water.
Read MoreBuild a Rod, Tie a Fly: In Search of Healing Waters
By Brian Sewell When David Frady, a 46-year-old from Leicester, N.C., woke up this morning, he felt like going fishing. So far, the rain has kept him indoors, where he’ll practice tying flies, work on the small boat he volunteered to build or pick his guitar, his other favorite stress-relieving activity. Frady says he’s always…
Read MoreBuried Blackwater: Revealing Coal’s Dirty Secret
By Brian Sewell No one knows exactly when the industry began injecting coal slurry, the toxic, semi-solid waste that remains after mined coal is washed, into networks of abandoned mine shafts throughout Appalachia. But it was sometime after a disaster on a cold morning in 1972, when 132 million gallons of blackwater erupted from a…
Read MoreEvolution of a Cattle Farm
By Jessica Kennedy After nearly 30 years of practicing continuous grazing on his cattle farm in rural Virginia, Guille Yearwood transformed his farming style to better serve his cattle and the environment. Yearwood, owner of Ellett Valley Beef Co. in Christiansburg, Va., had settled into farming the way most land grant universities teach. He farmed…
Read More