Posts by Rachel Woolworth
The Fire Next Time: Dealing with Wildfire in the Wake of Gatlinburg
One year after Gatlinburg, wildfires continue to grow exponentially in acreage and cost. Our best new strategy: fight fire with fire.
Read MoreA Tribe Called FloydFest
FloydFest is: music, magic, and mountains.
Read MoreHogwash on the House Floor: N.C. Bill Will Shield Big Ag from Air and Water Quality Issues
On Thursday, the North Carolina Legislature speedily passed House Bill 467, “Agriculture and Forestry Nuisance Remedies.” The legislation will regulate North Carolina residents’ right to sue agricultural giants over damages to their health, income, and more. Though worded broadly, the law is predominately regarding Eastern North Carolina’s industrial hog industry. Over the last two decades,…
Read MoreDevaluing Coal Country: Appalachian Regional Commission On Budget Hit List
Trump was supported in mass by blue-collar Appalachian voters on election day after repeatedly pledging to revitalize coal country throughout his campaign. The elimination of the Appalachian Regional Commission would do just the opposite.
Read MoreHigh Risk of Landslides: Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s Dangers Ignored
More controversy over the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a project that would carry fracked gas across West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, erupted this week. Blackburn Consulting Services released a report claiming that Dominion (the pipeline’s primary developer) is underestimating the risk of landslides in steep mountainous parts of Nelson County, Va. The soil evaluators…
Read MoreYour Synthetic Shirt Is Killing Ocean Life
Synthetic fabrics, a staple of the outdoor apparel industry, are ending up in oceans in the form of microplastics. Invisible to the the human eye, microplastics are tiny plastic fibers that shed from synthetic materials when cycling through the washing machine. Because of their size, microplastics are extremely difficult to filter out at wastewater treatment plants.…
Read MoreThe War on Wolves
Accompanying House and Senate bills would strip wolves of federal protection
Read MoreGuerrilla Archiving: The Resistance takes on #DataRescue
A new movement to secure and protect scientific information some fear will be lost throughout the Trump Administration is gaining traction across the United States. Guerrilla archiving, the effort to copy government website data onto independent servers, hopes to safeguard irreplaceable scientific information from political interference. Some environmentalists think the notoriously climate-hostile Trump Administration will…
Read MoreBill Introduced to Abolish the EPA
A bill was introduced last week to completely abolish the EPA, which protects clean air and water in the United States.
Read MorePiping Hot: Atlantic Coast Pipeline listed as a high priority project
The President also signed a directive Tuesday to expedite the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a project that would carry fracked gas across West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
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