Strive Not To Drive, a week of multimodal awareness events held throughout Asheville, held its first ever walking tour this past Tuesday, May 19, to showcase concerns and problems facing pedestrians, bikers, people with disabilities and motorists in downtown Asheville.
What we often cull, throw away or compost can be the building blocks for new recipes, offering an infusion of flavor to many meals to come. And something deeper happens when we repurpose our scraps: a change of perspective.
The opening of a Florida-based Publix supermarket in South Asheville brought with it fresh produce, sensible prices and protesting farm workers.
On May 1, activists rallied in Asheville to celebrate workers and their struggle. The modern International Workers Day, or May Day, was born out of the May 4, 1886, Haymarket riot in Chicago.
Duke Energy wants to put a new energy substation 300 feet away from a new LEED platinum-certified elementary school in Asheville, and parents say the mere idea of it will drive away students.
A public hearing on Duke Energy’s Lake Julian air-permit renewal is scheduled this Wednesday, April 29 — on the heels of an announced $30 million boost to the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” initiative.
Some of Mother Earth News’ earliest “Mothers” — whose roots go back to the 1970s and 1980s — got together this past Sunday at the Mother Earth News Fair, which was held at the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher. Nearly two dozen former employees and families met for brunch and to share their recollections from the decades past. I was one of them.
A few dozen fast-food workers walked off the job April 15 in support of an international action to raise the pay of low wage workers. The action marked the first time the nationwide Fight For 15 movement has made its presence known in Asheville.
Crowds of locals and visitors converged on the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center Saturday and Sunday, April 11-12, to take in the sights, sounds and tastes of the 2015 Mother Earth News Fair. Click through for a slideshow of photos by Tori Pace.
Asheville GreenWorks partnered up April 11 with volunteers to transform an empty green lot at Hillcrest Apartments into an orchard. GreenWorks received a grant to plant its sixth community orchard at Hillcrest, with 24 ball-and-burlap apple trees and 36 blueberries. The goal is to promote better access to food, greenspace, shade, community pride and jobs.
From the Get It! Guide: According to MANNA FoodBank’s 2014 Map the Meal Gap study, food insecurity affects 15.3 percent of Western North Carolina. But several local efforts are looking to stop hunger in WNC, bringing the battle to the fields, the pantries, the neighborhoods and even city hall.
From the Get It! Guide: Community tailgate markets are a labor of love that offer communities a place to gather while also providing access to fresh, local foods. If you’re thinking about organizing a market in your neighborhood, here’s some steps to consider.
From the Get It! Guide: As the boomer generation moves into elderhood, many are realizing what’s at stake when elders are lost from the social fabric. They’re aghast at the realities of our current model of care and are sparking a movement that seeks to redefine the later stages of life — not just for the benefit of elders but for the enrichment of all generations.
From the Get It! Guide: Julie Osburne traveled the country as a busker — exchanging goods and skills with those she met. That gave her the idea to found the sharing economy website, Exchange Tree.
Cherokee is a community in flux. Decadeslong high poverty and unemployment rates are beginning to decline, but access to healthy food remains limited and cultural values seem to be changing. “It’s Western civilization versus our traditional Cherokee ways,” say community leaders. But community efforts are using gardens to reconnect the Cherokee people to local food, health and a collective heritage defined by knowledge of the earth.
Form the Get It! Guide: The Coalition of Latin American Organizations seeks to raise the voice of Western North Carolina’s immigrant communities.
From the Get It! Guide: A close look at the trash collected in Asheville was shocking — 26 percent of our waste is compostable matter, 18 percent is recyclable and 56 percent is true waste, fit only for the landfill. With the city alone producing over 22,000 tons of trash a year, what is the cost of all that waste. And what is it going to take for us to reduce it?
From the Get It! Guide: John Mahshie says he realized the value of the exercise, healthy eating and time spent in the sun that comes with farming — and what that could mean for veterans experiencing isolation or even suicidal thoughts as they struggle to reintegrate into civilian life. “It’s a natural fit for this sort of healing,” he says.
From the Get It! Guide: Lisa Thomson, the new CEO of The American Chestnut Foundation, says its an exciting time to be a part of TACF. For the first time in the organization’s more than 30 year history, the American chestnut has a real hope of reviving.
From the Get It! Guide: Asheville is faced with a rising interest in transportation alternatives, but the path to greater advances seems to be lined with historic neglect and budgetary hurdles. The city still has a long walk ahead to fulfill its 2004 goal of building 108 miles of sidewalks. In the last decade, Asheville has constructed only about 18 miles worth.
If you think your day is busy, try keeping up with Keynon Lake. Lake parlayed his pro basketball and sports medicine experience into a career with Buncombe County Health and Human Services, where he is a community service navigator and prevention social worker. Driven to address the questions raised by his line of work, Lake penned the book My Daddy Taught Me That.
