Viewpoint
Forest Service Funding Impacts Linville Gorge
Opinions from our Readers Dear Editor, The Feb./March 2013 issue of The Appalachian Voice briefly introduced the prescribed burn being proposed for the Linville Gorge Wilderness. The burning of this rugged landscape would be attempted multiple times over the next decade, ostensibly to restore the natural fire regime and reduce future wildfire potential. These commendable…
Read MoreThe Conception of Wild Ideas: Scientists Confront Conservation Challenges of Our Times
This essay by Travis Belote, Greg Aplet, and Pete McKinley ran abridged in the print version of The Appalachian Voice. 1934 was a big year for conservation in the southern Appalachians. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in June, and in October, on a roadside somewhere outside of Knoxville, The Wilderness Society was…
Read MoreLincoln and Climate Science
By Dr. Bill Kovarik Abraham Lincoln used to tell a story during the darkest days of the Civil War. Although the story was omitted from a recent movie about Lincoln, it is still worth recalling. It goes like this: When Lincoln was a young man in Illinois in 1833, he was roused from his bed…
Read MoreHow the Rest of the World Needs to Help Educate the U.S.
By Rev. Pat Watkins Several years ago, volunteers from a United Methodist Church traveled to a small village in Kenya where they observed that the women of the village were walking, twice a day with buckets on their heads, to a river a mile away to get water for their families. Deciding this village could…
Read MoreWitnessing the Transformative Power of Water
By Ryan Robinson In May I spent three days navigating the ancient Chattooga River with North Carolina Outward Bound School, an organization that has used the Chattooga for many years to help individuals develop character through challenge and self-discovery. For centuries the Chattooga River has been witness to thousands of events and host to many…
Read MoreTranslating Intentions Around Climate Change into Religious Action
By Mallory McDuff As climate change becomes more politicized in Congress, many religious leaders — from evangelicals to Episcopalians — have expressed more agreement than discord on the need to address the rising threat. Yet it’s often easier to acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis than to translate that knowledge into action on a…
Read MoreRebuilding The American Dream
Excerpts from “Rebuild the Dream” by Van Jones The time has come to turn things right side up again and declare that America’s honest, hard-working middle class is too big to fail. The aspirations of our low-income, struggling, and marginalized communities are too big and important to fail. The hopes of our children are too…
Read MoreA Simple Approach to Stewardship
An excerpt from a sermon by Pat Watkins Lots of people of faith have rejected the overwhelming attractions of consumerism and have begun to give simple gifts at Christmas. Consumerism, which seems to overshadow Christmas far more than any theological reflections, has caused untold damage to our relationships with each other and with the planet.…
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Please Don’t Trash the Outdoors Dear Editor, For my school service project, I picked up trash around the forest. I picked up trash at campsites and on the forest roads. I found a lot of things like beer cans, milk containers, soda bottles, food wrappings, and someone even threw away a broken camp chair. I…
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A Politician A Day Keeps The EPA At Bay What is it about politicians that calls them to be so obedient to the worst of the bad apples in big business? The mantra of the 112th Congress seems to be that we should use the pain of an economic recession to justify more unsustainable and…
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