Coal Country documentary premiers in Asheville Last June, 14 activists were arrested in West Virginia for hanging a protest banner from a 22-story-high dragline used in mountaintop-removal coal mining. Among the "Dragline 14" was local filmmaker Kurt Mann, who was documenting the event for Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network. Owner of the Asheville-based American […]
Author: Margaret Williams
Showing 1156-1176 of 1653 results
The Dirt: The medicine woman’s garden
Corinna Wood bends over a patch of lemon balm growing in her garden, pinches off some leaves, rubs them between her fingers and sniffs. "You can already feel the mood-enhancing qualities," she exclaims. It's a sunny September day, and I've asked Wood what plants a novice should plant for her first medicine garden. Director of […]
Asheville Rowing Club in 2009 nationals
Bet you didn’t know Asheville had a rowing club. But it does, and its members recently did well at the 2009 US Rowing Masters National Championship, held August 13-16 on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. Ted Nash and Steve King posted the third-best qualifying time in Men’s Hwt Pair, advancing to the finals for […]
EPA adds 36 wells to CTS testing project
The Environmental Protection Agency will test approximately 36 wells as part of its continued monitoring of contamination linked to the former CTS plant on Mills Gap Road in South Asheville.
The Green Scene: Feds ineffective on Mills Gap Road contamination
Despite lying less than a half-mile from a contamination source that’s been under investigation since the 1990s, the Bradley family’s drinking well had never been tested when David Bradley noticed some folks drilling across the street from his South Asheville home on a mid-August day this year. On the move? Historical and more recent data […]
The Dirt Scoop: Garden & farm news and events
This week highlights the West Asheville Garden Stroll, grant funding for greener foods at three local elementary schools, and the state’s focus on food safety.
The Green Scene
Energy efficiency isn't as sexy as shiny solar panels or sleek wind turbines. But it's often the quickest, cheapest way to start reducing your carbon footprint. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, most homeowners can reduce energy costs 20 percent simply by insulating and fixing leaky ductwork. Such tasks are part of "sealing the […]
The Dirt Scoop: Garden & farm news and events
This week highlights the West Asheville Garden Stroll, grant funding for greener foods at three local elementary schools, and the state’s focus on food safety.
Green Xpress: Enviro news that matters to WNC
Here’s a round-up of environmental news that affects Western North Carolina, from local issues to national news we’ve been tracking.
The Green Scene
Once upon a time, Asheville had a premier electric-trolley system. Between 1889 and 1934, several private companies operated lines that ran about 40 cars and totaled 18 miles of track. The service linked the main train depot, downtown and surrounding areas. Imagine this: A composite rendering suggests what a modern tram coming up Biltmore Avenue […]
The Dirt: Almost secret gardens
"Edible" gardens in Asheville are everywhere. Two that recently caught our attention at Xpress are located right under our noses (or just outside our car windows): a Lexington Avenue garden within spitting distance of Interstate 240, and a neighborhood garden almost hidden below the Broadway/Chestnut Street bridge. The owner of Rosetta's Kitchen got the Lexington […]
Thornburg reverses gender-discrimination case
On Aug. 20, federal Western District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg, in his last civil case before retiring later this month, overturned a jury trial’s determination that Buncombe County and the WNC Regional Air Quality Agency illegally used gender discrimination when they passed over Melanie Pitrolo for the interim director’s position at the agency in 2005.
The Enviro Beat: Dried coal ash highly toxic, Duke scientists report
An Aug. 15 Duke University study details just how toxic coal ash is: Samples taken from the Dec. 28, 2008, coal-ash spill near Kingston, Tenn., contain high levels of toxic metals and radioactive elements, including arsenic, mercury and radium. As the sludge dries, risk of exposure via inhalation increases dramatically, the Duke team found.
SEE Expo 2009: Presentations
Friday, Aug. 21 Year-Round Local Foods, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Regional gardening expert Patryk Battle discusses the wide range of options and perspectives, from farmers markets to CSAs. Biomass Electricity: Helping Our Economy & Ecology, 1:30-2:30 p.m. John Bonitz, farm outreach and policy advocate with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, shares the facts, including actions you […]
SEE it, do it!
The green light has been lit: Now in its ninth year, the three-day Southern Energy and Environment Expo has "reached the mainstream," says event founder Ned Doyle. What was seen as a fringe movement in S.E.E.'s early days is now almost mainstream, he explains. Solar-powered hot-water systems aren't so new any more. Even some of […]
First Light and Innova earn state grants
Two local companies — First Light Solar Energy and Innova Homes — were recently awarded $61,000 and $51,160, respectively, from the North Carolina Green Business Fund.
Do the ‘mater walk
Fresh, local tomatoes make for great street food, and a tasty feature for sit-down meals: It’s the Thursday, Aug. 20, Tomato Walk, starring local ‘maters and local eats at Bouchon, Early Girl Eatery, Ed Boudreaux’s, Laurey’s, The Lobster Trap, The Market Place, Posana Café and Rosetta’s Kitchen.
The Green Scene
A December 2008 coal-ash spill in Tennessee appears to have spurred North Carolina legislators to increase oversight of 12 dams that hold back the toxic material — two of them in Buncombe County. Gov. Bev Perdue signed Senate Bill 1004 into law July 31. The legislation requires Department of Environment and Natural Resources staff to […]
The Dirt: The great tomato caper
Our tomato plants need more sun, less rain and more heat, my mother declared recently. This wasn't news, and she made the observation under gray skies that promised yet another unusually cool summer day. It's rained so much that the plants' identifying tags have been washed clean, and I can't remember what varieties I brought […]
Nurturing dreams
If it weren't for Mountain BizWorks, Monte's Sub Shop co-owner Daniel Ruiz says he wouldn't be in business today. That's a sentiment shared by many of the 3,000-plus alumni who've received loans, taken courses, attended workshops and received technical assistance through the organization since its founding, 20 years ago, as the Mountain Microenterprise Fund. Riding […]
The Green Scene
You've probably never heard of the Appalachian elktoe mussel, but some local folks have — and they're trying to help the little mollusk survive. On the North Toe River just downstream from Spruce Pine, crews have removed the remnants of an old dam, hoping to re-establish the fish populations the endangered species depends on. The […]