Green-building consultant Ken Huck has been playing with energy since he was 12 years old. The Canadian native helped wire his family's farmhouse more than 30 years ago, then toyed with radio kits in high school and studied the history of science and technology in college. By the time he worked on a solar-array project […]
Author: Margaret Williams
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Copenhagen or bust
This December, world leaders will convene in Copenhagen, Denmark, to continue what they started with the Kyoto Protocol in 1997: fleshing out the framework for an international agreement aimed at combating climate change. Several Asheville residents will be there, reporting what happens, providing technical expertise and trying to convince world leaders to make strong commitments […]
The Green Scene
As one local energy-conservation expert observed, "green" has become the latest fashion and the coolest trend. Businesses and governments want to make sure their customers and constituents know they're being green, even when their efforts don't add up to much when you look more closely. Ditto for "sustainability," another concept that's been commercialized and turned […]
The Green Scene
It's beneficial to protect natural systems as our region develops. That's the simple thought behind Linking Lands and Communities, a project that takes a big-picture look at the regional landscape to better understand where our most valuable natural resources are, what condition they are in, and how we can be more proactive about maintaining them. […]
Fly-fishing expo for WNC on Nov. 7 & 8 at Ag Center
Southeastern fly fishers will get a specialized expo geared towards the region’s fly-fishing opportunities. The Hunter Banks Co and other area fly-fishing shops are putting on an expo Saturday, Nov. 7, and Sunday, Nov. 8 at the WNC Ag Center just south of Asheville. The expo will be held in the center’s new livestock exhibition […]
The Green Scene
What would it be like to have a "smart meter" that could tell you when it's cheapest to run the clothes dryer, automatically signal the utility company if your power goes out, help you save money, and reduce your carbon footprint? Soon 160,000 Progress Energy customers in the Carolinas and Florida will find out. The […]
Chimney Rock elevator closed; park open & rates reduced
The elevator at Chimney Rock State Park is closed for maintenance, but visitors can still reach the top of 315-foot Chimney Rock by taking the Outcroppings Trail from the upper parking lot to the top in about a half mile. Rates will be reduced to $9 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 6-15).
Pollution, politics and gender
The civil-justice system has its own grinding, seesaw pace, as Buncombe resident Melanie Pitrolo has discovered. In the space of four years, she has lost her case, won an appeal and prevailed before a jury — only to lose again when the judge overruled. She has filed her second and final appeal in the case, […]
The Green Scene
Builders are always happy to construct million-dollar "green" mansions for the wealthy, and the government is already helping low-income families with weatherization projects, but what are middle-class homeowners and renters to do if they want to go green? Let the caulking begin? The middle-class needs some help with weatherization and energy-efficiency projects, such as the […]
The Green Scene
Hamming it up for plastic Did you know that every second, 100 plastic bottles are thrown away in North Carolina? And that one in five plastic bottles doesn't get recycled? Those are just two reasons state legislators passed a bill that bans plastic bottles from landfills. The law took affect on Oct. 1, and during […]
The Green Scene
UNC-Asheville senior Ellie Johnston wonders what her world will be like in the year 2050. That's the target date currently bandied about by world leaders for halving greenhouse-gas emissions. By that time, most of those world leaders will be, well, dead and gone. Johnston, on the other hand, will be a spry 63, she calculates. […]
Outdoors: Forty years exploring the Smokies
The book cover got my attention when 3,000 Miles in the Great Smokies landed in my in-box: a black-and-white photo in which author and Weaverville native William Hart leans against the Siler Bald trail sign. It's a scene from 1967, not long after the then-young man set out to explore the Great Smoky Mountains National […]
Mountains of mums at Arboretum, Oct. 17-18
The North Carolina Arboretum is ablaze with color in fall, and the North Carolina Chrysanthemum Society’s Annual Show, held October 17 and 18, is a perfect occasion to celebrate the fall foliage season.
This year will be very special, as the local chapter hosts the National Chrysanthemum Society Annual Show.
House passes bill for better public access at Catawba Falls
Backed by Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, a recently passed federal bill (H.R. 1002) will allow the U.S. Forest Service to buy 88 private acres for better public access to Catawba Falls in McDowell County. With the purchase, the Forest Service can expand the trailhead to the falls and possibly create a parking area. “The public […]
The Green Scene
A fireside chat with naturalist John Muir Imagine spending an evening with John Muir — conservationist, naturalist, mountaineer, explorer, author, philosopher, storyteller and founder of the Sierra Club (those 19th-century folks stayed busy). As local author Thomas Crowe writes, "As if by some kind of time-warp or reincarnation intervention, John Muir will be returning to […]
NATURALIST JOHN MUIR RETURNS TO WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
Naturalist John Muir, played by actor Lee Stetson, will be giving fireside chats on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 in WNC.
Little Snowball Lookout Tower Opens to Public on Sat. Oct. 3
The Big Ivy Historical Society will hold its annual Mountain Heritage Day on Sat., Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a featured event will be the opening of the cab of the Little Snowball lookout tower to visitors. The society will also open several other historic buildings, including a 19th-century log cabin […]
Coffee talk, horses and Shakespeare
Women own more than 10 million firms in the United States, employ more than 13 million people and generate more than $2 trillion in sales, according to SCORE, a nonprofit that finds current and retired business leaders to volunteer their time as mentors to small-business owners. Dreamers and doers: For South Carolina native Lucretia Perry […]
The Green Scene
Leave it to an energetic teen to inform us there's a catch to those energy-saving, compact-fluorescent light bulbs many of us have switched to: CFLs contain about 5 milligrams of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, says Reynolds High junior Jovahnna "Jojo" Graves. "That's about equal to the tip of your ballpoint pen, and it's in vapor […]
The Green Scene
As the rain falls on Asheville, it's all too easy to forget how severe drought conditions were in '07 and '08. The French Broad River hit its lowest recorded level since 1895. More and more private drinking wells ran dry, and one of three wells that supplied Marshall in Madison County hit empty. In August […]
The Dirt: The chef in the blueberry patch
When I met Brian Sonofkus at his Burnsville farm, the tune from a popular TV show stuck in my head: "Green acres is the place for me …" The nine-acre farm rests on creek-side bottomland that's been farmed for decades. It's dead flat, which always merits special mention for Western North Carolina property. There were […]