Environmentalists are no longer the only ones worrying about the planet. At last weekend’s climate-change rally in Asheville, State Treasurer Richard Moore said he believes that converting the corporate world is the path to real change.
Author: Rebecca Bowe
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Hot and cold
On the heels of the warmest winter on record, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest climate-change assessment on April 6. The report, which draws heavily on data provided by the Asheville-based National Climatic Data Center, summarizes climate-change impacts that have already been observed and projects future increases in drought, hunger, thirst, floods […]
The Green Scene
Asheville steps it up Forget about the light bulb. How many activists does it take to change … national energy policy? courtesy grist.org As many as it takes, acclaimed author Bill McKibben might respond. “Those of us who know that climate change is the greatest threat civilization now faces have science on our side,” he […]
Is Progress Energy’s power plant gone for good?
Local bloggers speculate, and Woodfin Town Administrator Jason Young gets in on the discussion.
Science bigwigs use climate data from Asheville
A draft of the latest assessment on climate change finds that greenhouse-gas emissions are at least partly responsible for changes already underway in our ecosystems.
The Green Scene
Miles to go before I hike What if you could traverse the whole French Broad River Basin—by bike, on horseback or in hiking shoes—without ever running into a four-lane road? That’s the big idea behind a fledgling regional effort to design create a system of trails linking Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties. Across […]
Canton’s paper mill: Air permit review hearing next Tuesday, April 3
The air pollutants that would issue from Progress Energy’s proposed Woodfin power plant are miniscule in comparison with what Canton’s Blue Ridge Paper Products mill belches out on a daily basis. The mill’s Title V air permit is up for review next week.
‘Punk kids’ on tour to talk about about climate change
The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol could feed one person for a year, and widespread production of the alternative fuel could exacerbate hunger in developing nations. Carbon trading concentrates pollution in poor communities, and as nuclear energy moves in to replace fossil fuels, radioactive contamination will intensify in low-income areas.
The Green Scene
Ideas for alternatives to a new power plant in Woodfin were floated at a Clean Energy Task Force forum held March 20. Addressing a crowd of about 150, local energy activists Michael Shore, Ned Doyle and David Johnson each suggested ways to make up the 130 megawatts that Progress Energy’s proposed oil-fired facility would generate. […]
Life is sweet For Tree Huggin’ Treats
Love that chocolate: The Tree Huggin’ Treats crew, from left, Eric Usher, Ann Sweeney, company founder Joel Schantz, Jarrett Leone, Carlos Steward and Rosey the dog. photo by Jonathan Welch When Tree Huggin’ Treats founder Joel Schantz and Sales and Marketing Director Eric Usher traveled from Asheville to Anaheim, Calif. for Expo West, the natural-food […]
Where even the landfills are green
A group of camera-toting travelers breezed through Western North Carolina recently, but they weren’t looking to capture stunning Parkway views. Instead, they took a whirlwind tour of our local dumping grounds.
“Abrupt,” “Inconvenient,” and “Out of Balance”: Films and experts address climate change
While the thought of climate change isn’t exactly uplifting, you might just want to stay informed about this daunting issue — after all, this problem is not going to fix itself. This week, multiple talks and film screenings offer a glimpse into what you might call a hot topic.
Enviro triumph or Dirty Bird?
Every day, the Blue Ridge Paper mill in Canton, one of Haywood County’s biggest employers, discharges more than 20 million gallons of treated industrial wastewater into the Pigeon River—which critics say is much too small a waterway to accommodate that much effluent. Trials and tributaries: The Canton paper mill has discharged industrial wastewater into the […]
The Green Scene
Getting the lay of the land Tracking development in Asheville just got a whole lot easier. A new online tool unveiled recently by Asheville’s Information Technology Services Department enables anyone to quickly find out about new local construction projects. The Web-based program, called the mapAsheville Development Mapper, uses geographic-information-systems technology to retrieve detailed data about […]
A new game plan: Environmental Defense on North Carolina’s energy future
When it comes to finding alternatives to coal and nuclear power, Germany is way ahead of North Carolina. But a new report by Environmental Defense proposes a plan for catching up.
Asheville joins Green Drinks International
Not like you needed an excuse to go out for a drink after work, but here’s a heads up about a new “green scene” brewing at Bobo Gallery in downtown Asheville every Friday.
The Green Scene
I’ll drink to that Being an environmental crusader can be a depressing gig. Faced with a constant barrage of grim headlines about pending climate catastrophe, rapidly shrinking forests and toxic waterways, you couldn’t blame people working in the field for wanting to just forget about it all at the end of the day. Yet Asheville […]
Power plant resisters are fired up
A sign raised next to Weaverville Highway by the Clean Energy Task Force delivers a message to motorists: “No! to power-plant pollution, Yes! to clean energy.”
The Green Scene
Office Max goes “green” Office Max, one of the nation’s largest office-supply companies, announced a new environmental policy Feb. 19 in the wake of negotiations with The Dogwood Alliance, an Asheville-based nonprofit. The company has agreed to avoid purchasing from paper suppliers that log endangered areas or convert natural forests to industrial pine plantations, and […]
The Fermentation fetishist
I was wary of kimchi, a traditional Korean food that is prepared by fermenting chopped vegetables in brine for several weeks, the first time I tried it. I was surrounded by vegans, vegetarians, a cook whose affinity for garlic was so strong that he’d tattooed an image of it on his elbow, and a grad […]
Race cars running on corn-based fuel
Guess who’s burning green? Alternative fuels are springing up all over the Southeast — including on NASCAR racetracks.