SEJ2008

Clean Coal's Dirtiest Secret

By Wendy Redal

It's been a couple of months since we visited Kayford Mountain together, but I've since completed a four-part series for a blog I write for on the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining and actions citizens can take to oppose it.  The series is titled "'Clean' Coal's Dirtiest Secret." And a tip of the hat to whoever titled the field trip; I borrowed from it for my title in part two.  If you're interested, here are the links:

Part I - An Ugly Overview
http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/10/27/clean-coals-dirtiest-secret/

Part II - Almost Level: The Mechanics of Moving Mountains
http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/10/29/clean-coals-dirtiest-secret-part-ii/

Part III - Poor affected most as Environmental Destruction Agency blasts away barrier to expand mountaintop removal mining:
http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/12/04/poor-affected-most-as-environmental-destruction-agency-blasts-away-barrier-to-expand-mountaintop-removal-mining/

Part IV - Seven Simple Steps to Save Appalachia
http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/12/16/seven-simple-steps-to-save-appalachia/

Healthy Foodshed: Joel Salatin's Farm

By Joseph A. Davis

The "Healthy Foodshed" tour left Roanoke at dawn with a full bus, headed for the farm of Joel Salatin, in the woody foothills of the Appalachians, where meat cattle seem to be grazing in every field.
Salatin gained fame as poster-child for sustainable farming when he was featured in Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma. He has invented (and inherited) a unique form of agriculture, the polar opposite of large-scale corporate farming and CAFOs. Salatin quickly established that he considers most livestock and poultry production in the U.S. as the moral equivalent of the slavery that was practiced in Virginia 200 years earlier.
Not only are Salatin's chickens "free-ranging," but he has invented "egg-mobiles" (mobile houses) to ferry them around from spot to spot in his fields so they can forage and fertilize evenly. He has invented a number of other methods for raising pigs and cattle in ways that require minimum input (no fertilizer) and still produce more output than conventional hi-tech agriculture.

AT Hike Casualty?

Seen on top of McAfee Knob yesterday, Appachian Trail tour. It was a pretty substantial hike...

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Healthy Food Shed Challenges America's Food Practices

By Sharon Stringer

The visit to Joel Salatin's 550 acre Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was awesome.  What a wonderful way to get indoctrinated to SEJ's conference day tours.  The trip was worth  waiting stand-by to board the 7:30 a.m. bus.

Joel Salatin is a character in his own right ,who is not bashful about sharing his disdain with Washington's farm policy makers. He said that if it comes out of Washington, don't believe it.

Highlights From Electrifying Nuke Tour

By Sara Peach

 

WHERE WE WENT:

A fuel-fabrication facility and a nuclear-plant-training center in Lynchburg, Va., both owned by AREVA, a French nuclear company. We also toured Coles Hill, a farm that may become the site of the first U.S. uranium mine east of the Mississippi.

TOUR LENGTH:

8.5 hours

TOUR LEADER:

Thomas Henry, Environmental Writer, The (Toledo) Blade. (Thanks, Tom, and thanks, Roger Witherspoon, for your work to set up the tour.)

WHAT THEY SAID:
• “If you knock out the brain, the body doesn’t have long to live.” – David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists, on the danger of an aircraft hitting a nuclear plant’s control room.

How Land Conservation Preserved an Appalachian Jewel: McAfee Knob

By Lisa Palmer

We went to McAfee Knob seeking a view of the Catawba Valley. But, we found a richer understanding of a land with a 350 year history of human development. What are human impacts the environment along the AT? Recreation ecologist Dr. Jeffrey Marion, of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and adjunct professor at the Dept of Forestry at Virginia Tech, provided an outstanding lecture on how human use of backcountry affects the land. On McAfee Knob, our view extended 30 miles past Catawba Ridge. About 25 miles of the Appalachian Trail goes through Roanoke County.

Topics of conversation on the hike ranged from how AT through-hikers obtain their trailnames to Leave No Trace ethics and how to pick a campsite.

Geodata & Mapping: Clem Henrickson's Handouts

Today, we'll be joined on the Appalachian Trail tour by Clem Henrickson - Geographic Info System (GIS) professional and market analyst for ESRI, one of the world's leading GIS companies.

We're hiking up to McAfee Knob -- an outcrop with a stunning view along the AT. After we've had lunch at the top, Clem and I will give a short, informal talk about what's new with geotechnology, and how geodata and interactive mapping can be a fun and useful part of environmental news and info.

If you can't join us on the tour, you can follow along in Google Earth, via this cool map layer Clem created of our planned outing today...

Introducing guest blogger: John Sutter

Hello from Roanoke! This is John Sutter, a guest blogger on this site. I'm in Roanoke early for a fellowship with the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. The weather is beautiful, the leaves are turning and the class sessions have been quite informative so far.

I live in Oklahoma City and recently started an environmental news blog at http://concretebuffalo.blogspot.com. My portfolio is up at http://jdsutter.com.    I'm pumped for this week full of learning and fun, especially a rafting trip down the James River, where we'll learn about the impact of agriculture on water quality. That particular trip interested me because Oklahoma's attorney general is suing several poultry companies over alleged water pollution. I made my first hike in the mountains here on Saturday with a friend who works for the Roanoke Times. She was an excellent tour guide, and the view of the Blue Ridge from "sharp point" at the top of the hike was stunning. 

Areva Nuclear Tour - Background

Backgrounders on nuclear power

The attached pdf files are part of the background information being made available for the Thursday Oct 16 tour of Areva nuclear facilities in Lynchburg, Va.

The files are posted at the request of Roger Witherspoon, a tour leader who cannot participate due to unexpected illness.  The brochures present critiques of the nuclear power industry in the US, France and Europe.   

Introducing Guest Blogger Michael Fortune

Good sunny morning !

      Michael Fortune checks in to report on the trip to West Virginia to see removal of coal by blasting / cutting off the tops of mountains.   I figured this trip would be the most environmentally dramatic and relevant to our energy policy discussions and reporting. 

    First, about me:    I have met some of you, including Lisa, at the May seminar on "Climate Change: Its Sweeping Impact," sponsored by the Knight Foundation last May in Maryland.   I am an atmospheric scientist making a career shift into environmental journalism;  I write and produce an occasional newsletter  about climate  science for the public, at climate-science.org ....       And I freelance on natural science, weather and climate, and (hopefully) ethics, as well.

Introducing Guest Blogger Fred First

Hello SEJ-ers. My name is Fred First. I am one of the newest members and possibly the only one to claim a public writing start (at age 54 no less) by way of a blog.  Fragments from Floyd has, since 2002, given me a medium by which to share my passion for natural history-field biology, the culture and landscapes of the Blue Ridge Mountains and local and regional environmental matters.

My blog posts more often than not spring from my photographs close to home--just up the western slope from Roanoke in Floyd County. Those who take the Parkway field trip on Thursday at the conference will travel about 30 miles along the Floyd County's southern border on their way to Mabry Mill. I'd be happy to answer any questions a local resident from the area might be able to answer.

Areva Nuclear Tour - Photos

Areva nuclear plant photos

Photos of the Areva nuclear fuel fabrication complex and training site in Lynchburg, Va.  are available at this Web Album

The photos  were taken on a February, 2008 visit to prepare for the Oct. 16th conference tour.