The Appalachian Voice
Appalachian WaterWatch: Protecting Your Water with Vigilance and Community Involvement
Our Appalachian Water Watch team is busier than ever watching over our water resources in Appalachia. From arming citizens with the know-how to monitor their own water to challenging bad deals between coal companies and state agencies, the Water Watch program is working each day to protect the rivers, streams and drinking water sources in…
Read MoreClean Water Protection Act Introduced in Congress
Early in May, Appalachian Voices worked with The Alliance for Appalachia to bring more than 60 citizens from around the country to the 8th Annual Week in Washington in Washington, D.C. We spoke to federal agencies and representatives to inform them about the horrors of mountaintop removal coal mining, and to urge them to support…
Read MoreGrateful for Their Service
Throughout the 2012-13 school year, Appalachian Voices has been fortunate to work with a slew of talented interns who gifted us with their energy and skills. Courtney Cooper and Ethan Strickland maintained the citizen water monitoring database and compiled pollution data for Appalachian Water Watch. On the communications front, Matt Abele shared his multimedia talents,…
Read MoreMicrohydro Powers Mountain Farm
Our spring multimedia assistant, Matt Abele, traveled to Woodland Harvest Farm in Ashe County, N.C., to see how Elizabeth West and Lisa Redman are harnessing their creek’s energy to power their small farm and homestead.
Read MoreFirst National Monument in West Virginia Proposed
By Chelsey Fisher The Birthplace of Rivers is an area in the Monongahela National Forest of West Virginia known for its preserved wildlife and ecological features. It includes some of West Virginia’s tallest waterfalls and cleanest waterways, and is considered one of the largest expanses of wild forest in the eastern part of the country.…
Read MoreHome Energy Tips
Making your home more energy efficient can sound like an expensive and complicated task, but in reality there are many easy steps homeowners and renters can take to convert a dwelling from an energy waster to a sustainable homestead. Below we have outlined ways to help you pay less and reduce your home’s carbon footprint.…
Read MoreGreen Visions
Chattanooga’s high-tech advances are seeded with grassroots principles By Molly Moore As dusk falls on the north bank of the Tennessee River, streetlights turn on at Chattanooga’s Coolidge Park. Rows of gleaming bicycles wait for the next morning’s bikeshare riders, and the sun’s last rays fade from a park building’s green roof. If the streetlights…
Read MorePolicy Expert to Steer New Energy Savings Program
The Southeast possesses some of the greatest resources for making energy use more efficient, and Appalachian Voices has a plan to help unleash that potential. This spring, we are launching a new program focused on promoting energy savings and reducing the use of coal-fired power in rural Appalachia and the Southeast. Rory McIlmoil, a long-time…
Read MoreTom Cormons: A Leader With a Purpose
When Tom Cormons left the East Coast to attend college in Charlottesville, Va., it didn’t take him long to fall in love with the mountains. Every opportunity he had during his time at the the University of Virginia, he hiked, paddled and climbed in the rugged mountains of Appalachia.He eventually met his wife, Heather, while…
Read MoreEPA Gets Its Day in Court: Hearings Begin on Spruce Mine No. 1 Appeal
By Brian Sewell Dozens of coal industry groups and environmental organizations crowded into a Washington, D.C., courtroom on March 14 for the latest chapter of a long legal battle. A three-judge panel heard arguments on the legality of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to veto permits for one of the largest mountaintop removal coal…
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