January 2009
Grassroots organizations like the Southeastern Climbers Coalition and the Carolina Climbers Coalition are gaining and preserving access to this treasure in a unique way – by buying it. This new film celebrates what many are calling a Golden Age of discovery and stewardship in the South. It’s a look at the miraculous mix of activism,…
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Music festival darlings Donna the Buffalo celebrate their 20th anniversary with their latest offering Silverlined , the band’s seventh studio album to date. Led by founding members, lead guitarist Jeb Puryear and multi-instrumentalist Tara Nevins, DTB doesn’t necessarily break any new musical ground over the course of the album’s 13 tracks. Instead what they achieve…
Read More >As even progressive politicians continue to hype coal, citizens of Appalachia marginalized by its devastating production process continue to be ignored. Burning the Future, a documentary directed by David Novack, presents the people who suffer most from coal and its production—those who live with toxic groundwater and whose backyard mountains are being blown up for…
Read More >The most unique concert hall in the Southeast—if not the world—rests some 300 feet below the Cumberland Plateau and just outside McMinnville, Tenn. Carved by millions of years of underground river flow, the Volcano Room, one of the caves that make up the labyrinth of Cumberland Caverns, has become home to the monthly concert series…
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Faye Bush does not consider herself an activist. Although she’s been branded with Erin Brockovich-type celebrity, she insists her work is all about love and care for a local community in environmental peril.
In the 1950s Bush helped organize the Newtown Florist Club (NFC), a group of African American housewives who delivered funeral flowers to the bereaved in her hometown of Gainesville, Ga. Over the years, Bush noticed an increase in the number of people dying from similar illnesses, including lupus and cancer. The deaths were clustered in low-income neighborhoods near industrial factories on the south side of Gainesville.
Steve Bair, backcountry wilderness and trails manager for Shenandoah National Park, cites “not being prepared for winter weather” as the most common mistake made by winter campers.
Read More >Supreme Power The Piedmont Environmental Council and three Virginia counties have appealed a recent Virginia State Corporation Commission decision to approve a new mega-transmission line that would prolong coal-fired power in the Mid-Atlantic for another 50 years. The Supreme Court will not hear any new evidence or testimony, but will review the basis of SCC’s…
Read More >Supreme Power The Piedmont Environmental Council and three Virginia counties have appealed a recent Virginia State Corporation Commission decision to approve a new mega-transmission line that would prolong coal-fired power in the Mid-Atlantic for another 50 years. The Supreme Court will not hear any new evidence or testimony, but will review the basis of SCC’s…
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Where have all the real ski bums gone? The old school spirit is revived by Wayne Sheldrake in this memoir of his time as a wide-eyed and occasionally reckless adventurer. He consistently throws himself into big storms and tackles the terrain most of us avoid. But this isn’t just about a guy with guts. It’s…
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A meeting of the mountains of Western North Carolina and the Malian desert of West Africa continues to evolve with the music of Toubab Krewe. The Asheville-based quintet just released a live recording of its cross-cultural fusion of traditional Afro groove and roots rock, backed by the energy of a hometown crowd at The Orange…
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First, the bad news: The kid who mows your lawn has more in his piggy bank than you have in your 401k. Thank you, economic meltdown. Now, the good news: Money’s not everything. At least you have your health. Or do you? To be completely healthy, you need to consider the food you eat, the…
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If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands who flock to the New and Gauley Rivers each year for a whitewater rafting trip, you may hear something louder than the roar of the rapids: the sound of dynamite blowing off the top of Gauley Mountain. Permits have been issued to Powellton Coal Company to blast…
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If any place in Appalachia can still make you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, it’s West Virginia’s Canaan Valley. Development is limited. Light pollution is minimal. Backcountry is everywhere. START HERE The unimposing Whitegrass Ski Touring Center (whitegrass.com) is the home for cross-country skiing in the rugged region of the Mountain State.…
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