Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia’
Communities Pursue Revitalization Plans
By Carvan Craft Convenient access to local food can be a rare commodity in rural communities. Thanks to the Appalachian Livable Communities grant program, founded in 2012, five Appalachian communities will receive a shared total of $375,000 to help make local food projects a reality. The grant will fund a new agricultural education facility for…
Read MoreToxic Warnings: Recent Spills Underscore Lack of Water Oversight
By Kimber Ray In the early morning hours of Jan. 9, Kim Thompson was getting ready to leave her South Charleston home in Kanawha Co. — the most populated region in the mountains of West Virginia — and head out to her job as field supervisor for a local telecommunications company. As she twisted the…
Read MoreAppalachian States Debate Hemp Legalization
By Nolen Nychay The legal hemp farming debate has come to Appalachia. The much-debated Farm Bill President Obama signed into law in February included a “hemp amendment,” which permitted the regulated cultivation of industrial hemp in states that have legalized hemp farming. Hemp is a cash crop in the cannabis family that, despite lacking most…
Read MoreVolunteering in West Virginia
Big Laurel Learning Center Along the beautiful Tug Fork River near Kermit, W.Va., this rural community center offers environmental service opportunities to educate and assist communities affected by mountaintop removal mining. “The coal mines are right next door and people suffer from this fall-out of the coal society,” says Gretchen Shaffer, Big Laurel’s volunteer program…
Read MoreWho Has Priority Over Water?
By Matt Wasson, Ph.D. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — What do January’s Kanawha Valley chemical spill, the Exxon Valdez spill and the Deepwater Horizon incident have in common? All were man-made environmental disasters, disrupting the lives of thousands of people, and all cracked open for public view astonishing examples of corporate and regulatory dereliction. What don’t they…
Read MoreWary and Waiting
By Karen Smith Zornes I didn’t have a problem with the spill at first; I thought, “Accidents happen.” But when it came time for us to flush, I had an asthma attack from the smell. I went outside for fresh air and tried to flush again later — and had another asthma attack. After our…
Read MoreOne Seriously Angry Granny
By Linda Sodaro Sometime last year, my good friend Kim and I had a conversation about the joys of a hot shower. The perfect temperature, with lovely handmade soap and standing there as long as we liked. She said, “I don’t think we’re always going to have that.” Kim’s prophetic words came to pass Jan.…
Read MoreAn Expanded Idea of Leadership
By Jen Osha Buysse The stories that get me the most are the stories of mothers with children who are sick and asking why the state is not considering it an emergency. Why is the government providing less emergency water every day, even though every day we’re learning new, disturbing issues with the water situation?…
Read MoreA Son’s Outrage
By Dustin White I tried to take a Jan. 28 sample of the water from my dad’s West Virginia American Water tap — the gallon jug above — into the state capitol to show our politicians the water we are forced to live with. Security told me I could not bring it in, and if…
Read MoreWest Virginia Pride
By Hannah Spencer Through this disaster I have been reassured that I am proud to be a West Virginian. The folks who make me proud to be a West Virginian are those who haven’t had work since the water crisis, but are still at their local fire departments and churches handing out supplies every day.…
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