The Appalachian Voice
Johnny Cummings: Small Town with Big Ideals
By Kimber Ray For a small eastern Kentucky town, Vicco has been making big headlines. The driving force of this publicity is the town’s energetic and openly gay mayor, Johnny Cummings. Locals praise their mayor for leading ambitious community projects in economic revitalization and infrastructure repair. Nationally, however, Cummings astonished much of the country by…
Read MorePaige Cordial: Minding Mental Health
By Rachel Ellen Simon Post-traumatic stress disorder is most commonly associated with soldiers who have seen combat, but psychologist Paige Cordial has found similar symptoms in the coalfields of Appalachia. Cordial recently received her doctorate in counseling psychology at Virginia’s Radford University, where she wrote her dissertation on the relationship between physical proximity to mountaintop…
Read MoreDewayne Barton: Building Opportunity in West Asheville
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 be a part of the solution or it’s not right,” he says. As an artist…
Read MoreBill 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 June. Three years later, he purchased 46 acres in a West Virginia valley and made…
Read MoreCarbon Controversy: EPA Gathers Feedback on Emissions Rules
By Brian Sewell This fall, public listening sessions held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency served as an opportunity to influence future rules to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, the centerpiece of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. Comments submitted by citizens and stakeholders, and the large turnouts and media attention at the 11…
Read MoreSara 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 solutions. As the founding director of Accelerating Appalachia, a nature-based business accelerator launched this past…
Read MoreMatt 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 — just in case — he heads out to monitor water quality in areas impacted…
Read MoreAnna 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 on the Alabama coast to the Cayman Islands — and her incredible enthusiasm for animals…
Read MoreAda 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 in Whitesburg, Ky.— Ada Smith has witnessed how creating and sharing stories can empower communities.…
Read MoreAdvancing 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 an award-winning coalition of concerned citizens, local government, and environmental and business groups, ardently committed…
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