Environment

What's Missing At Night? The Dark

editor — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:11:36 -0700

A dark sky — a truly dark sky — is so rare these days that it's now a tourist attraction.

Speak Your Piece: Don’t Blow Up The Mountain

editor — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:20:53 -0700

Hugh explosions. Rock and debris flying into the air. Mountains blasted to smithereens by explosives 100 times more powerful than those that blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City. The land looks like a another planet. No trees, no plants, no animals. A barren moonscape.

These are the shocking images I saw in Jeff Barrie’s documentary, "Kilowatt Ours." I could not get the images out of my mind. So I sat down and wrote the song, “Don’t Blow Up the Mountain.” Ron Ault put together a video (above) and he he plays clawhammer banjo on the song).

Although I don’t live in Appalachia (I live in Nashville), I have a great love for the culture of the mountains because I play old-time fiddle. I love the rollicking beat and the sound of a bunch of fiddles and banjos all playing the melody together.

When folks are forced off the mountains, when communities are figuratively and literally torn apart, who is going to teach the next generation these wonderful old fiddle tunes that have been around for hundreds of years?

1993 Report Warned of Future Flooding

editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:52:50 -0700

In 1993 the country was in a lather of concern about midwestern flooding that had killed 50 Americans and caused $20 billion in damages. Gerald E.

Black Flies Make a Comeback in Maine

editor — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:01:28 -0700

Maine's streams are cleaner. You can tell by the black fly bites.

In the Last Days of Chesapeake Oysters

editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:15:24 -0700

William “Bubba” Bonniville tonged for oysters in the James River off of Newport News, Virginia, circa 2003
Photo: Bryan Hatchett

June used to be the season of love for Chesapeake Bay oysters, the warmer waters setting off clouds of spawning. In former times, people avoided eating oysters during these summer (“non-R") months. Refrigeration was unreliable, and it's only right to leave procreating and infant mollusks in peace.

But this June there’s real concern that the delicious oysters from the bay may be completely disappearing in this season or any future one -- romance, R-month or no. David A. Fahrenthold's piece for the Washington Post finds that though state and federal governments have poured in $58 million since 1994 to build back the Chesapeake’s oyster beds, “official estimates show there are fewer oysters in the bay and fewer oystermen trying to catch them.” Fourteen years of effort have not worked.

A recent analysis by the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science predicts especially poor harvests of oysters, crab and rockfish this summer, due to “low oxygen conditions and blooms of harmful algae” in the Chesapeake Bay.

"The problems are coming from our backyards, our barnyards and our boat yards," says William Dennison, an environmental scientist with the University of Maryland center. "It's everything that we're doing on land that's creating the nutrient sediment input into the Bay.”