Posts Tagged ‘appalachia’
To the Capitol and Back
By Jessica Kennedy Editorial assistant, Summer 2012 I’ve never seen mountaintop removal. I’ve seen it in pictures, books, movies. I’ve seen it in dreams and reconstructed it in my head. I’ve pictured its destruction settling in my mountains – the giant hills that make Boone the town it is. I am thankful mountaintop removal has…
Read MoreEnvironmental Summer Camps — The Sequel!
Spring is here and that means it’s almost time for summer camp fun! From the coast of North Carolina to the mountains of West Virginia, there are camps tailored to young nature lovers. We’ve compiled a list of summer camps to get your kids outside, where they can meet lifelong friends and learn about protecting…
Read MoreBertha’s Love
Snake Handlers, Strippers and the KKK: CNN’s Portrait of “Everyday Life in Appalachia”
So CNN ran a sensationalized and superficial story built on stereotypes that lacked any news value. Big news, right? Grow up, kid, this is the entertainment business… That’s an excerpt from the conversation in my head before deciding to write a post about the photo-essay that was posted on the front page of CNN.com on…
Read MoreThe Dirty Money Dozen
According to both the Center for Responsive Politics and Oil Change International, contributions from oil, gas and other energy industries skyrocketed in the past five years, with the coal industry alone contributing more than $8 million in 2009-2010 — more than twice what the industry had contributed in any previous election cycle. And during 2011,…
Read MoreFox Squirrels Making a Comeback in N.C.
If you’ve ever seen what you thought was a gray squirrel on steroids, what you actually saw was most likely a fox squirrel. This bushy-tailed, colossal squirrel is common throughout most of Appalachia, but was not seen in the North Carolina mountains in several decades — until relatively recently.
Read MoreBook Club Mini Review: “Kentucky Folktales: Revealing Stories, Truths, and Outright Lies”
By Brian Sewell Even before opening Mary Hamilton’s ode to storytelling, the rustcolored cover, adorned with a rocking chair and the kind of rustic text that might be carved in a tree, invites the reader into a world of oral traditions shared among Kentuckians for years before being captured on the page. Hamilton is a…
Read MoreA Golden Wing and a Prayer: Restoring Warbler Habitat
By Brian Sewell Appalachia’s favorite bird, the golden-winged warbler, has been selected as one of seven focus species by a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that aims to reverse population decline through habitat restoration. The “Working Lands for Wildlife” program will collaborate with private landowners…
Read MoreThe Emerging Efficiency Lobby: Diverse Interests Find Common Ground
By Molly Moore Conversations about blowing up mountains for easier access to coal or risking offshore oil spills to boost a corporation’s bottom line spark passions in a way that those about financing energy efficiency retrofits don’t. But wherever national energy dialogue goes, talk of energy efficiency and minimizing our energy consumption is sure to…
Read MoreBreaking Down Job Barriers
By Paige Campbell Nearly three-quarters of a million jobs were lost in Appalachia between 2007 and 2009. All but 35 of the region’s 420 counties, as designated by the Appalachian Regional Commission, saw negative employment trends during that lowest low of the current recession, and the slow crawl back out has been slower here than…
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