Viewpoint
The ghosts of Buffalo Creek
On the 35th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek disaster, we remember with great sorrow the 125 innocent men, women and children who lived their lives in harm’s way and lost them due to the recklessness of Pittston Coal Company. We will never forget the unethical engineering that brought millions of gallons of water crashing down…
Read MoreWestern religion is already ‘green’
Ten Years of Appalachian Voice
Anyone who has been paying any attention to the news lately knows that the planet is getting warmer and environmentalism is getting cooler. Magazine covers with people dressed in shades of green have been popping up like kudzu. Newsweek put this headline on its cover: “The New Greening of America: From Politics to Lifestyle, Why…
Read MoreThe Answer is Blowin’ in the Wind
A famous British politician once said that Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing – that is, after we’ve tried everything else. So how many roads do we have to go down before we start to do the right thing? The strongest possible wind power, solar and biomass energy programs are needed.…
Read MoreVoices on the Wind
Why Not Now? In Kentucky, we trumpet our low-cost electricity, cheapest in the nation, but hardly ever mention that we’re also a leader in wasting electricity. And we sure can’t brag about the quality of our air or the mercury in our lakes. Any sensible energy policy will emphasize conservation and energy alternatives, such as…
Read MoreAppalachian Spring
The end of a dark and difficult winter brings back moments of sorrow and horror like blasts of arctic wind. From the mines of West Virginia and Kentucky came news of tragedy that could have been averted. From federal appeals courts in Richmond and Knoxville came more grim news, as reckless procedures for permitting mountaintop…
Read MoreSmiling at the Gas Pump
Think badly of me if you must, but I’ve actually enjoyed watching gasoline prices rise to their recent unprecedented levels. When the local TV news crew does a story on higher gas prices at the pump, I smile as the owners of big SUV’s whine and complain to the reporters. I laugh when I see…
Read MoreThe Last Leaf
I had risen, as was my custom, around 7:00 am, turned on the coffee pot, and looked across the tree tops to the bare mountain opposite my cabin on Blackrock Mountain. Pastel streaks of dawn lifted away the last vestiges of night. It was the first official day of winter, though the preceding weeks had…
Read MoreColossal Failures of the Government
As the shock of the tragedy in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina begins to fade for some Americans, the horror remains and, for many, their emotions are beginning to turn to anger. After all, it isn’t easy to understand how such an avoidable tragedy could have occurred in America. How…
Read MoreMountain Roots
Seems there never was a time when, growing up in the upper Cumberland Plateau of East Tennessee, I didn’t smell the dust from coal trucks passing by our house on their way up the mountain. Now when I go back to visit the old home place and family, I see the mountains that were stripped…
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