As a teen working at my local McDonald’s, I never dreamed that the old oil from those french-fry vats would one day power diesel engines and heat homes. Nor did I imagine you would ever get a decent cup of joe at the joint. But these days, all the major fast-food chains hawk something resembling […]
Tag: Green Scene
Showing 22-38 of 38 results
The Green Scene: A leaking well highlights continued CTS contamination
Two grade-school boys playing in Becky Robinson‘s yard on April 24 discovered that an old well on the property was leaking. It hadn’t been used since 1999, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that it was contaminated by trichloroethylene, one of many chemicals used at the former CTS electroplating plant on Mills Gap Road […]
The Green Scene
Not enough, say residents frustrated by a proposed agreement with CTS Corp. for cleaning up contamination at its former Mills Gap Road manufacturing site. A 1987 North Carolina law caps participating companies’ liability in such cleanups at that amount. Contained? Fences don’t prevent toxic vapors—produced by the suspected carcinogen trichloroethylene—from reaching residents living near the […]
The Green Scene
Earth Day falls midweek this year, on Wednesday, April 22. But instead of labeling it “hump day,” consider the moniker “hair day.” A few local salons will be continuing their practice of collecting their snippings and shipping them off to San Francisco nonprofit Matter of Trust, which turns those donated locks into, of all things, […]
The Green Scene
If you want to understand the importance of air quality, ask yourself how long you can hold your breath. That’s what environmental scientist Meng-Dawn Cheng of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory told a group of journalists gathered in Knoxville, Tenn., last month. A summer photo taken in the Shining Rock Wilderness near Asheville shows a […]
The Green Scene
These are names that only a congressional bill sponsor could love: the Tracing and Recalling Agricultural Contamination Everywhere Act, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act, the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act, and the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a Democrat, has sponsored the latter bill, which has […]
The Green Scene
Electricity sparked Benjamin Franklin‘s curiosity—dangerously so. He strung a wire to an iron rod attached to his chimney, rigging it to ring a bell in the house when struck by lightning (never mind the risk of fire). And in 1752, in the middle of a thunderstorm, he also stuck a wire on a kite (or […]
The Green Scene
Perhaps you can’t quite picture a farmers’ market hosted by the local hospital, but to Molly Nicholie, it’s a perfectly green combination. Such a partnership is just one possibility raised by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Farm to Hospital program. The pilot project seeks to play matchmaker, linking local farmers looking to build their customer […]
The Green Scene: The weatherizers
In the alternate universe of the graphic novel (and new movie) Watchmen, angst-ridden heroes clad in tights, capes and masks fret about the state of humanity and their place in a sinister world. Warren Wilson College’s young weatherization heroes evince no such sentiments, though they do sport safety masks and loads of can-do spirit. During […]
The Green Scene
Two days after President Obama signed the stimulus package into law, DeWayne Barton and Dan Leroy were in D.C. for the “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” conference. But the two men—co-founders of the Asheville Green Opportunity Corps—were not content with merely attending the event and eyeing the new funding possibilities. With help from Barton’s D.C. brother […]
The Green Scene
Pam McCorkhill had noticed the gray dust in her neighborhood, Lake Julian Trails, since she moved there in 2006. But to the former grade-school science teacher, the sandy material was merely an annoyance that meant extra cleaning indoors and regular deck washing. “I’ve never complained about it, and [at first] I didn’t know what it […]
The Green Scene
Elevated arsenic levels have been found in a preliminary sampling of water and sediment collected downstream from Progress Energy’s Skyland power plant and coal-ash pond. A water sample taken from an unnamed French Broad River tributary nearby contained arsenic at slightly above the permissible level for surface waters—and seven times higher than the U.S. Environmental […]
The Green Scene: Finding stable ground in landslide country
Every year, at least one damaging landslide occurs in Western North Carolina. Nikki Donin knows that statistic up close and personal
The Green Scene
Here’s a roundup of recent local environmental news. Greenville, S.C., gasses up As a global-warming catalyst, methane packs a punch: The Environmental Protection Agency says the gas “is 21 times more powerful at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, by weight.” Decomposing wastes produce methane, making landfills the biggest source of the gas in the […]
The Green Scene: One lump or two
The catastrophic failure of a retaining wall near Knoxville, Tenn., last month has shined a spotlight on the lack of regulation of toxic coal ash from power plants.
The Green Scene
Carole Hartness has a New Year’s resolution that might require a little time—and a lot of help. But the Boy Scouts are ready to pitch in. Woman with a mission: With a lot of help from Cub Scout Troop 602 and Boy Scout Troop 75, Fairview resident Carole Hartness planted the first 59 of the […]
The Green Scene
Should warning signs be posted along West Asheville creeks and streams that may be contaminated by tetrachloroethylene, a chemical related to the one found at the CTS site in Skyland? Signs and portents: A West Asheville oil spill resulted in the posting of this sign near the cleanup site earlier this year. Do creeks downstream […]