Environment Archives — Page 4 of 37 — 100 Days in Appalachia

Tag: Environment

The Chattooga River near a cane restoration site in Mountain Rest, South Carolina. Photo: Sarah Melotte/100 Days in Appalachia

Conservation

The Straining of North Carolina’s Chattooga River and the Indigenous Artform that Could Save It

by Sarah Melotte on August 3, 2021 Comments are Disabled

I climb a boulder that juts out into rapids. The rushing water is so loud it drowns out my breath. I’ve come to the banks of the Chattooga River for solitude, for the way water carries away inner noise. I’m here early enough that I get a few moments of […]

The incredibly rare morel is prized by gourmet cooks, particularly in French cuisine. Morel hunting is a hugely popular springtime activity. It attracts hundreds of morel enthusiasts at various locations for festivals and hunting competitions. Such gatherings serve as meeting points for morel pilgrims, collectors, friends and tourists alike, who come together to share stories, experiences, exchange morel recipes and engage in morel hunting. Photo: Ken Mattison/Flickr

•Generation Zeitgeist

To All the Morels We Found Before: On Finding Morels – and Finding Yourself – in Appalachia

by Grace Arnold on June 10, 2021 Comments are Disabled

As a little kid growing up in Southeastern Ohio, I always looked forward to late March and early April. I loved these months for a lot of reasons; they signaled early spring, the promise of the end of the school year just around the corner, and the beautiful blooms peaking […]

Coal

W.Va. Lawmakers Remain Desperate to Prop Up the Dying Coal Industry. Residents are Paying the Cost With Higher Electric Bills.

by Lucas Manfield, Mountain State Spotlight on March 15, 2021 Comments are Disabled

This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. For more stories from Mountain State Spotlight, visit www.mountainstatespotlight.org. In response to pressure from utilities and consumer advocates, West Virginia lawmakers have watered down a bill originally designed to make it difficult — if not impossible — for utilities to shut down the […]

Environment

Commentary: New Uses For Former Mine Lands Stop at Economic Potential, But Appalachian Species Are Thriving on Rehabilitated Sites

by Wally Smith on February 11, 2021 Comments are Disabled

“Hey! We’ve got something!” There’s excitement in the college student’s voice as they call me to an overturned log in the forest where we’re spending the afternoon. Instead of our usual menu of field trips to off-campus nature preserves and parks across southwest Virginia, COVID-19 has forced my Vertebrate Zoology […]

Agriculture

AppHarvest Promotes New Ag Methods in Appalachia

by Liz Carey on December 11, 2020 Comments are Disabled

A start-up, backed by nearly half-billion-dollar investment, seeks to create living wages and sustainable agricultural practices in the region. Some worry about the impact on traditional farmers and others about the source of the funding. AppHarvest, the brainchild of Jonathan Webb, son of Corbin, Kentucky, hopes to deliver indoor, large-scale […]

Pipelines

Federal Regulators Are Rewriting Environmental Rules So a Massive Pipeline Can Be Built Across West Virginia

by Ken Ward Jr., Mountain State Spotlight on December 9, 2020 Comments are Disabled

This story was originally co-published by Mountain State Spotlight, a nonprofit newsroom covering West Virginia, and ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Last month, a federal appeals court blocked one of the key permits for construction of a massive natural gas pipeline that cuts through West Virginia and that […]