Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
Silas House: A Remembrance of Jean Ritchie
“Kindness always lit up the face of Jean Ritchie,” begins this remembrance by author Silas House of the Appalachian folk icon who died yesterday at 92. “She was a source of incredible pride for my people. Everyone I knew loved Jean Ritchie, and they especially loved the way she represented Appalachian people: with generosity and sweetness, yes. But also with defiance and strength.”
Solidarity in the Tar Heel State
The communities near Duke Energy’s Belews Creek power plant and coal-ash dump in North Carolina have suffered a long time from water pollution. Now the state is poised to allow the natural gas industry to drill fracking wells nearby. Citizens are saying “enough.” The NAACP announced a civil rights investigation at a recent press conference and took its protest to the state capitol at a “Moral Monday” rally. Appalachian Voices is standing in solidarity with these champions for environmental justice.
Appalachian communities are still at risk
Our goal with Communities at Risk is to ramp up the pressure on the White House to end mountaintop removal. As citizens have argued for years, cracking down on the continuing devastation of Appalachian mountains and streams is critical to moving the region forward. It’s incumbent on the Obama administration to help revive Appalachian communities, which have powered the nation’s economic ascendancy for generations.
A summer of clean energy progress ahead in Virginia
Summer is upon us, which means a season of hot sun, blockbusters at the movies, and developments at the state and federal levels that could spell significant progress toward a clean energy system. Here are snapshots of a few of the policies and programs we’re watching in Virginia.
Reflections from the second SOAR Summit
Last week’s SOAR Summit provided a positive forum for people working to strengthen local economies in Appalachia. But, even with so many who care deeply about the region gathering in one place, there was disappointingly little time or space created for discussion amongst the people who are doing the lion’s share of the groundwork in Appalachian communities.
