The Appalachian Voice
The First Appalachian Journey
A country road in the west of Scotland. I look out at the sweep of field and forested hills surrounding us, and I feel a sense of calm. “It looks right,” I say. A month later I went home to southwest Virginia with a photograph of that landscape of Scottish countryside, and I passed it…
Read MoreHarlan County Goes to Hollywood….Again
Late last year, I was invited to Lincoln Center in New York City to attend the premiere of a restored edition of the 1976 film “Harlan County, USA.” The original film print had begun to deteriorate, and an organization called the Women’s Film Preservation Fund had taken on the job of saving this American classic.…
Read MoreThe Electoral Non-Issue
On November 2nd, Americans turned out in droves to cast their votes for president. Yet before a single vote was counted, it was clear who the real losers of the 2004 election were. They were the future generations of Americans whose health and quality of life depend so heavily on decisions our political leaders make…
Read MoreBe a Part of the “Voice”
Did any of you regular readers of the Appalachian Voice ever wonder how a small non-profit group is able to put out 70,000 free newspapers every 2 months and distribute them out to six states? Unlike many for-profit publications that have large staffs and the ability to pay distributors, the Appalachian Voice is put together…
Read MoreGeneral Stores Still Making it in the Mountains
It is an almost balmy afternoon, the cloudless sky opening wide against the tightly wooded ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I am driving west out of Charlottesville, Virginia, on a gently curving road through open farmland, passing long weathered fences, an occasional estate home, a few horse barns, and then a steeplechase off to…
Read MoreWendell Berry on Sustainability, Citizenship and Becoming a Native
For over forty years, Wendell Berry has written from his hillside farm in Kentucky. Through more than thirty books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction, he has critiqued the many problems of our American lifestyle while also offering more ecologically sane alternatives. What follows are excerpts from an interview with Berry conducted in November of 2003.…
Read MoreBlue Ridge Echo
images/voice_uploads/BrushyMtnsCircle.gif Stop at almost any east-facing overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in northwestern North Carolina and you will see layers of mountains retreating into the distance. Most people assume that they are looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains. While spurs of the Blue Ridge range do taper to the east, the most prominent peaks…
Read MoreThe Healthy Air Industry
images/voice_uploads/MarshallSmokestackCircle.gif When Person County Manager Steve Carpenter talks about the North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act (CSA), the enthusiasm in his voice is unmistakable. But the enthusiasm is not because of the much cleaner air that he and his constituents will soon be breathing as a direct result of the CSA. No, when Steve Carpenter thinks…
Read MoreAppalachian Voices Sets Course for Future at Strategic Planning Retreat
On a beautiful November weekend in Boone, members of Appalachian Voices staff and board of directors met to set the course for the organization for the next three years. We discussed our conservation programs, as well the organizational nuts and bolts necessary to meet our goals of ending mountaintop removal, eliminating air pollution, and restoring…
Read MoreSue Daniel Memorial Fund Announced
Appalachian Voices is honored to be chosen as a recipient of donations in memory of Sue Daniels, a leading mountaintop removal activist from Blacksburg, Virginia, who passed away in November. As a leader of the Blacksburg-based organization Mountain Justice, Sue’s dedication to ending mountaintop removal was extraordinary. Sue took dozens of people to West Virginia…
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