The MAGIC of yesteryear

Community gardens may be all the rage today, but the concept is nothing new in Asheville. Beginning in the early 1980s and continuing until the spring of 2000, a nonprofit called Mountain Area Gardeners in Communities (MAGIC) blazed a trail here, maintaining as many as 13 community gardens outside of schools, housing projects, homeless shelters […]

The Green Scene

There is such a thing as a free ride U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions from transportation sources rose 151 percent from 1960 to 2001, with the greatest increases in the Gulf South and the Southeast, according to The Carbon Boom, a recent report by Public Interest Research Group affiliate Environment North Carolina. At the same time, North […]

The Green Scene

Gliding above the emerald hills of Pisgah National Forest in a tiny four-passenger Cessna has the effect of making one feel … well, nauseous at times. But beyond that, you feel like an insignificant speck peering down into a vast, age-old landscape. courtesy SouthWings Guided by SouthWings volunteer pilot Mal Deckham, a group of us […]

The Green Scene

Not your typical Venus fly-trap Photo by Rebecca Bowe How do you convert your average bunch of boys into lifelong environmentalists? Phil Sheridan, director of Virginia-based Meadowview Biological Research Station, knows the secret: lead them into a muddy bog to revive a plant that eats bugs. On June 15, kids from the Falling Creek Camp […]

The cost of a free meal in Asheville

Meals on wheels: Adam Ripley at Aston Park, where he has relocated his free food program. photo by Rebecca Bowe Montreat resident Adam Ripley never figured that giving away hot meals would land him in hot water. But in early May, the Asheville Parks and Recreation Department gave him the boot, telling him his Pritchard […]

How green is Asheville?

Ray Cockrell remembers the first time he heard about the possibility of biodiesel coming to town. “About five years ago, I received a phone call in the middle of the night from these guys who were all excited about biodiesel,” says Cockrell, who serves as the adviser to the auto shop on the Warren Wilson […]

The question of cost

One might be hard-pressed to find an outright advocate of energy-hogging homes, gas-guzzling cars and congested superhighways. Instead, most opposition to “green” initiatives seems to center on financial concerns. “I like the idea of green buildings, but I’m not in favor of borrowing from our children’s futures to fund them,” said Asheville City Council member […]