After months of haranguing City Council over the wording of a climate emergency resolution, over 40 protesters with Sunrise Movement Asheville occupied the government building on Dec. 6 to demand that Mayor Esther Manheimer and her colleagues pass the document as written by the climate justice group.
Climate Change and Asheville’s Urban Forest, a symposium organized by Asheville GreenWorks for Thursday, Nov. 14, 5-7:30 p.m., brings together a broad coalition around the results of the city’s recently released canopy study. Urban forest advocates emphasize that trees are critical to help Asheville avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Less than 0.1% of all small woodlands are currently certified as responsibly managed, despite making up over 75% of all privately owned Southeast forests. The SAP pilot, a collaboration of forest product companies, the Forest Stewardship Council and Rainforest Alliance, is exploring how to bring those previously overlooked parcels into certified status.
Roughly 75 people, including Asheville City Council member Brian Haynes and Council candidate Shane McCarthy, took part in demanding that local government take stronger action in response to climate change. Extinction Rebellion chose the date of the march to coincide with the time local elections would have been held before they were moved to 2020 through the passage of Senate Bill 813.
Many public commenters urged the commissioners to act even more decisively on transitioning away from fossil fuels in the context of climate change. Chloe Moore with the Sunrise Movement referenced a scientific paper, published earlier that day, in which over 11,000 scientists from 153 countries declared a “climate emergency” and warned of “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” if stronger measures were not taken.
In November, Michael Caterino of Clemson University and Paul Marek of Virginia Tech will start a three-year effort to catalog litter-dwelling arthropods — the biological group that includes such creatures as millipedes, spiders and beetles — on the high peaks of the southern Appalachians, including Mount Mitchell and Grandfather Mountain.
In her upcoming class Meredith Leigh teaches ways to eliminate food waste. Also: Blue Cheese Festival launches; Ciao Asheville hosts pasta making class; Thanksgiving pre-orders arrive; and plenty more in this week’s Small Bites.
Using the slogan “When in doubt, throw it out,” the statewide Recycle Right NC initiative aims to reduce contamination and improve the economic value of recyclables. Additionally, according to the National Weather Service’s Greenville-Spartanburg office, Western North Carolina is likely in for warmer-than-usual conditions over the foreseeable future.
“Healthy soil and the biodiversity that generates and maintains it is key in simultaneously improving food security, watershed health, preventive medicine and climate mitigation,” says farmer, ethnobotanist and educator Mark Cohen.
Last year, AVL hosted over 1.13 million passengers, an 18.6% jump from 2017’s total and over 67% more travelers than used the airport five years prior. Tina Kinsey, the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority’s director of marketing, public relations and air service development, says the airport is now striving to manage its expansion and ensure its long-term path maintains a steady cruising altitude.
Taking place at the Vance Monument from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, the rally brings together 15 area organizations in a call for change. The speaker lineup includes Anita Simha with the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign, Lucia Ibarra of Dogwood Alliance, the Rev. Scott Hardin-Nieri from the Creation Care Alliance, UNC Asheville Assistant Professor Evan Couzo and Sunrise Movement member Shane McCarthy.
A simple apple crisp can be an easy, creative way to highlight locally grown fruit.
Canadian sustainable building expert Chris Magwood will offer three workshops featuring hempcrete at A-B Tech Friday-Sunday, Sept. 6-8. The series is part of seven learning opportunities taking place at A-B Tech and Lenoir-Rhyne University through Wednesday, Dec. 11.
The $100,000 report, commissioned from Massachusetts-based consultants The Cadmus Group, finds that local government action will be insufficient for Asheville and Buncombe County to run operations entirely on renewable energy by their goal date of 2030 without the purchase of renewable energy certificates or significant state-level regulatory changes.
Armadillos were first seen in North Carolina in Macon County in 2007, and the first confirmed Buncombe County sighting took place in July 2014 near Leicester. Although urbanization and relocation by humans have helped the armadillo’s invasion, says N.C. Wildlife Commission biologist Colleen Olfenbuttel, climate change is likely a key factor.
More than 30 bands on three stages plus classes covering everything from aquaponics to regenerative agriculture practices are on the schedule for the three-day festival.
The board tagged a higher overall population, greater burdens associated with chronic health conditions and obesity, growing racial gaps in academic achievement, a rising jail population, loss of farmland, higher housing costs and increased public health care spending as high-certainty, high-impact trends.
The 10th Congressional District representative’s constituents challenged him on issues including climate policy, Israel-U.S. relations and the behavior of President Donald Trump at his annual Buncombe County town hall on July 31 at the Riceville Community Center.
“We have to start looking at what is nature at this point? What is the nonhuman world?” maintains “Mountains Piled Upon Mountains” editor Jessica Cory. “We’ve affected the air, which affects everything else. We’re really getting to the point where we have to look at things a little differently.”
“Building a Climate-Resilient Asheville,” debuted during a June 19 meeting of the city’s Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment at The Collider, focuses on practical steps individuals can take to reduce their vulnerability to extreme weather.
The BLOCK Off Biltmore will host the second consecutive Great North Carolina Vegan Barbecue Cookoff. Also: The Market Place Restaurant celebrates 40 years; Tupelo Honey hosts pairing brunch; and more.
