The Appalachian Voice
Appalachian Voices launches Most Endangered Mountains website
Appalachian Voices announced a major new addition to the iLoveMountains.org Web site designed to highlight the stories of America’s Most Endangered Mountains with video and give activists the tools to help protect them. The new site launched in late May. For nearly two years, iLoveMountains.org has raised awareness about the massive scale of destruction left…
Read MoreWild bees create a buzz
A few years ago I invited a local beekeeper to place a hive on my farm. I naively assumed a honey bee colony would increase pollination and thus help maximize crop production. On a preliminary visit he stopped near a mist of insects hovering around a patch of blooming blackberry briars. “You’re getting plenty of…
Read MoreHiking the Highlands – Beech Mountain falls
At nearly a mile high, the water on Beech Mountain doesn’t really have any place to go – but down. Here, Pond Creek tumbles, slipping over ancient rock formations beside thick nests of rhododendron and laurel. Talk about tranquil. Listen: That’s about all you could call the rippling waters of the Lower Pond Creek Trail.…
Read MoreHillbilly Stereotypes make me wanna holler
When I saw the clip of the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart aping a misinformed West Virginia voter in May, I had a flashback to a Saturday Night Live “Appalachian ER” skit, which featured rocker Neil Young embroiled in a mess of incest and depravity. How the media loves its hillbillies. Makes me wanna holler: The…
Read MoreMuseum of Appalachia – The Ultimate Field Trip
John Rice Irwin tarried among his exhibits for an hour. Maybe more. And that was still not enough to show it off. It was hardly more than a breeze-through of the farm tools, musical instruments, antique furniture and odd relics of yesteryear at the Museum of Appalachia. Irwin smiled and said, “You could spend a…
Read MoreLiving History Museum Honors the Past, for the Future
By Keith Deel By the sweat of their brows and the strength of their backs, settlers built a life in Appalachia. Few reminders of their struggles remain, but one is the Matthews Living History Museum, located outside of Galax, VA. It gives a glimpse into the lives of the citizens of Grayson County from 1880…
Read MoreVirginia religious leaders oppose Dominion coal plant
Labeling coal fired electric power “immoral and destructive,” sixty religious leaders called on Virginia governor Tim Kaine to drop any support for a proposed power plant in Wise County. The religious leaders included Jewish, Protestant and Catholic leaders from all around Virginia. Among them were Bishop Charlene Kammerer of the Virginia Conference of the United…
Read MoreMountain justice students protest coal power plant
Protests against coal fired power plants continue around the region. In early March, students from around the country attending Mountain Justice Spring Break marched to the regional offices of the Virginia state environmental agency in Abingdon, VA to oppose the coal plant proposed for St. Paul, VA by Dominion. They were greeted with supportive horn…
Read MoreEnvironmental issues concern faith leaders
Although the statements and sermons rarely grab headlines, religious leaders in Appalachia and throughout the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the moral dimensions of coal mining, climate change and environmental stewardship. In March, 2008, leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Nashville said that Baptists have a moral responsibility to combat climate change.…
Read MorePreservationists win second battle of Blair Mountain
A twenty year battle to preserve the site of the historic Blair Mountain miners uprising is ending with a victory for labor and the environment. In a hearing February 22, the West Virginia Archives and History Commission gave its unanimous final recommendation for the preservation of 1600 acres of the Blair Mountain Battlefield as a…
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