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EarthSolidarity!™ Initiatives are endeavors to which anyone can contribute in deed as well as in spirit, that
- minimize waste and environmental impacts
- increase community resilience
- respect and protect ecosystem processes and all forms of life
- contribute to good living conditions for everyone around the globe
- affirm and celebrate our interdependence and interrelatedness in the Web of Life!
Tell TVA: Don’t replace Kingston Coal with new fossil gas plants or pipelines!
Remember TVA’s 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to retire the Kingston plant and its four other remaining coal-fired power plants by 2035.
But it is seriously considering replacing them with large fossil gas power plants and new gas pipelines!
Natural gas is cleaner than coal, but is yet another fossil fuel source that releases carbon dioxide. Such a replacement would be contrary to the national and global consensus that we must reduce the use of fossil fuels quickly to constrain the runaway climate crisis as much as we can.
A plan based on emerging technologies for increased energy efficiency combined with distributed use of renewable energies and energy storage can increase community resilience; create more good, long-term jobs; diversify local business opportunities; and provide immediate public health benefits.
TVA accepts public comments electronically through the end of July 15, 2021.
Don’t miss the opportunity to tell TVA that customers don’t want to pay for a yesteryear “solution” that does not really address the clear and present dangers to humanity. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has made it easy for you:
Submit your comment to TVA by tapping or clicking this link NOW:
Tell TVA, No New Fossil Gas Plants + Pipelines
You can also email TVA directly attn: Chevales Williams, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Source: TVA — Kingston Fossil Plant Retirement
Approval of 180-acre subdivision in Strawberry Plains is sign of things to come
WBIR: Knox County planners approve massive subdivision over community concerns
Knox County planners last week approved the concept plan for a 180-acre, 400-home subdivision off Ruggles Ferry Pike in Strawberry Plains on steep, rugged rural land in East Knox County despite community concerns about the impact of the development on the natural features and infrastructure of the area.
Compass Knoxville reported Innsbruck Farms subdivision would be one of the county’s largest housing developments, but it met all requisite zoning codes and planning requirements.
“The development met all zoning requirements and conformed to the county’s East Sector Plan, leaving planning commissioners little choice but to approve the project. The decision disappointed area residents concerned about preserving the rural nature of the Carter community,” Compass reported.
“This is the latest development in the county’s ongoing struggle to expand,” according to WBIR reporter Katelyn Keenehan. “Knox County is in need of 40,000 homes in the next 30 years to meet the increasing population. Innsbruck Farms is just the beginning.”
Knoxville electric bus fleet expands; furthers city efforts to reduce its carbon footprint
Written by Thomas Fraser
Grant to expand electric fleet will help city advance its emissions-reduction goals
The federal government kicked down a $4.8 million grant to Knoxville for additional electric transit buses. It will expand the current Knoxville Area Transit electric fleet by six vehicles, the city announced July 12. That means KAT could have a total of 18 electric buses operating on routes across the city by the end of next year.
The funds were disbursed from the federal Low and No Emission Vehicle Grant Program, which helps municipal transit agencies acquire low- or zero-emission buses and other transit vehicles, according to the city. Sen. Bill Hagerty and Rep. Tim Burchett supported the grant application.
KAT wants to electrify its entire 71-bus fleet within eight years.
“This will go a long way in helping KAT transition to an all-electric fleet,” Mayor Indya Kincannon said in the news release. “With each new electric bus, we are reducing our carbon footprint. We are moving closer toward our goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions associated with City operations by 50 percent by 2030 — and a communitywide reduction of 80 percent by 2050.”
The grant furthers a city goal of replacing aging KAT diesel buses “with state-of-the-art electric buses that are about three times more fuel-efficient than a standard diesel bus (13 MPGDE vs. 4.4 MPG),” according to the city.
“Knoxville Area Transit provides an important service for folks in Knoxville, which is why earlier this year I asked the Federal Transit Administration to give KAT’s Low-No application grant full consideration,” Burchett said in the city release. “I’m glad this grant was awarded to our community so KAT can modernize its fleet to be more efficient and environmentally friendly.”
Tennessee is a national leader in electric-car production and parts. Celebrate at this summer’s Get Off the Grid Fest in Chattanooga
Written by Ray Zimmerman
Not just for preppers anymore: Chattanooga energy-independence event promises three days of music, learning and fun “powered by the sun.”
“A decade ago, the cost of the equipment needed to live off the grid limited the experience to the wealthy few. Presently, and in the near future, the technology is far more widely available to even modest income homesteaders. These days, you can’t afford NOT to get off the grid.” - Bill Fleming
The Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee areas are among the top producers of electric cars in the nation. What better place to facilitate and celebrate the growing use of alternative fuels?
This summer’s Get off the Grid Fest near Chattanooga is a phenomenon with roots in the alternative energy movement of past decades. Today, it offers a strong vision for attaining energy independence and building sustainable communities for the present and future.
The latest installment of the festival is set for the weekend of Aug. 20-22 at Camp Jordan in East Ridge.
Bill Fleming and Ed Witkin are bringing the traveling, biennial festival to East Tennessee this year. They are musicians and festival organizers and have been promoting and installing alternative energy technology for decades. The events are billed as ways “to explore and present practical methods of protecting and preserving our natural resources,” according to organizers, with a focus on harnessing alternative energy sources.
The celebration of energy independence — and ways to achieve it — will include three music stages; a curated art exhibit; an electric vehicle exposition; a sustainability fair with workshops such as homesteading demonstrations; and a health and wellness tent.
The East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and Drive Electric Tennessee are partnering with Stephen McCord to offer the Electric Vehicle Expo (EVX).
“EVX is Tennessee’s first multi-day music festival/exposition showcasing the latest in electric vehicle products, components, and services,” said McCord, the owner/operator of B Presents, a Nashville-based company that provides concert and event promotion, entertainment marketing, and promotional services.
The Electric Vehicle Expo will include vendors across the entire EV spectrum, including OEMs, dealers, and suppliers for a full weekend of presentations, test drives, workshops and guest speakers.
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Go on a hike and get a history lesson on Oak Ridge’s role in the Manhattan Project
Exercise your body and your mind during a ranger-guided hike starting at 10 a.m. July 17 along the Cedar Hill Greenway in Oak Ridge that will examine the local features of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
The “Secret City,” replete with housing, schools and shopping for a massive workforce, was carved out of largely rugged wilderness and farms during World War II to support the development of the first atomic bombs, known as the Manhattan Project.
The historical park, formed in November 2015, is actually a national collection of sites, including Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and Hartford, that highlights features of the various communities, labs and reservations involved in the early development of atomic weapons and energy.
Rangers will share the story of the early days of 1940s-era Oak Ridge and Clinton Engineer Works, including the town’s nascent school system, which went on to become one of the best in the state and region. Its STEM programs are nationally recognized. Nuclear engineering work continues today at Y-12 National Security Complex. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a modern leader in scientific research and applications, ranging from high-speed computing to biology.
The 2.5-mile group hike begins, appropriately enough, at the site of the former Cedar Hill Elementary School (attended for a period by the editor of Hellbender Press) at the intersection of Outer Drive and Michigan Avenue.
The greenway hike may prove moderately difficult for some; so bring water and wear sunscreen and good shoes.
Call (865) 482-1942 for more information.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists keep an eye on endangered fine-rayed pigtoe mussels in Little River
Daily Times: Biologists keep a close eye on imperiled mussel populations in Little River and beyond
The Little River in Blount County just west of Great Smoky Mountains National Park hosted just one of five known fine-rayed pigtoed mussel populations when federal officials placed the mussel on the Endangered Species List in 1976.
The Daily Times in Maryville reports that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now conducting a regular five-year review of the mussel's status. It is one of at least 12 mussel species in the river, which has its headwaters in the Great Smoky Mountains and flows through Townsend on its way to its ultimate destination: the Tennessee River. Little River is the main source of water for an expanding Blount County population.
Native mussel populations face the same threats as many non-game fish in the Southern Appalachians. Oxygen is depleted by sediment plumes, which also smother fish eggs, and many mussels rely on small fish to reproduce.
“Reproduction depends on host fish. During the larval stage the young are stuck together in a packet that resembles the prey of shiners and minnows, which is how they become attached to the fish gills or fins to grow for a few weeks,” the Daily Times reports.
Forest Service bans camping on Max Patch for two years after nonstop deluge of visitor problems
Citizen-Times: Festival-like atmosphere on famed bald led to massive litter, waste and wildlife problems
They trampled warbler habitat restoration areas. They left behind tons of cheap camping equipment. They failed to properly bury or transport human waste. They left their vehicles parked willy-nilly on an access road, impeding the ability of emergency vehicles serving the surrounding areas. They ruined it for the rest of us.
Now Max Patch is closed to camping and other restricted uses for two years, Pisgah National Forest authorities announced on July 1.
Over the past decade, the bald in Madison County, North Carolina with 360-degree views of the surrounding Appalachians experienced stunning overcrowding and misuse, with some areas resembling jam-band festivals at times.
The Appalachian Trail traverses the bald, which was home to vital projects to restore wildlife and vegetative habitat. Now visitors are subject to numerous and pointed restrictions, and failure to abide by the new rules could bring tickets and fines.
The restoration could be a long process.
The sounds of silence: 17-year cicadas fade away as offspring prepare for 2038 performance
Written by Stephen Lyn Bales
Dead cicadas are seen on concrete in Knoxville at Holston River Park. Their brief sonic reign has come to an end. Photo courtesy of Lyn Bales
The cicada soundtrack of spring and early summer has come to a quiet end
“Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” sings country music outlaw Willie Nelson. “They say that all good things must end.”
Yes. Essentially Cicadapalooza 2021 is over. There may be a few late emerging males hanging on like the last few guys in the bar at closing time with hope against hope that somehow they will get lucky and Miss Wonderful will walk through the door. In this case, a female 17-year cicada clicks and clicks to let the male know she is interested or desperate to complete her mission.
As a rule of thumb, the entire periodical cicada phenomenon lasts four to six weeks but it is extremely weather dependent. Insects are ectothermic and need warm to hot temperatures to be active.
I saw my first evidence the cicada emergence had begun at Ijams Nature Center, where I worked for 20 years as a naturalist. Executive director Amber Parker told me where to look for emergence holes: under the sugar maple at the back of the Universal Trail. That was on April 20. I found the small exit tunnels but no cicadas or exuviae. I knew skunks, foxes, crows, jays, owls, dogs, cats, and anything else that will eat a bug quickly consume the first ones above ground.
Report: South Knoxville white supremacist committed suicide while showing child how to shoot a handgun
Hard Knox Wire: Racist leader’s death in Knoxville was by suicide
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office concluded that Craig Spaulding, 33, took his own life on April 8 on Belt Road in South Knox County.
The death, originally reported by Hellbender Press via Hard Knox Wire, was initially attributed to an accidental gunshot wound.
“Spaulding was a self-described white nationalist, which means he was a member of a group of militant white men and women who espouse white supremacy and advocate enforced racial segregation,” Hard Knox Wire reported.
He regularly organized groups to spew hate at people participating in LGBTQ or Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
“White supremacists under Spaulding’s leadership have been operating in the area and traveling to events outside of East Tennessee for several years, such as the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017.”
Hard Knox Wire reported that Spaulding was showing a son of a friend how to shoot when he abruptly and purposefully shot himself in the head with a .25 caliber Ruger. His blood-alcohol content at the time was approaching three times the legal limit, according to autopsy reports.
Many Southern Appalachian communities still have no running water
Washington Post: Water scarcity persists in poor communities
The digital divide is a serious issue between rural and urban America, but some 2 million people in rural America even lack access to piped, clean water and plumbing, according to a study from the U.S. Water Alliance.
Some of those communities are in Southern Appalachia. This Washington Post article describes a man in McDowell County, West Virginia, not far from the VIrginia Blue Ridge, who fills two 200-gallon tanks each week from a creek down the mountain from his house to provide wash water for his family. He uses a pump, and hose on loan from a local fire department.
Politicians and local utilities have promised for years to extend water utilities to such underserved, largely poor, areas. Much like the promises of broadband elsewhere, they have not delivered.
Scientists and engineers will examine potential role that rising sea levels contributed to Florida condo collapse
Washington Post: Sea level rise will be investigated as one possible factor in Florida condo collapse
There is no direct evidence yet that increased subsidence on a Florida barrier island caused by rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion contributed to the devastating collapse of an ocean-front condo complex near Miami, but the possibility will be examined in coming weeks and months.
Rising sea levels threaten seaside properties on an increasing scale, undermining the unstable land on which they sit and further contributing to erosion of steel and concrete.
In the case of Champlain Towers South, developers used fill from denuded mangrove stands to support the 12-story building, which was built in 1981.
“Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the surface when material that supports it is displaced or removed, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Erosion and the disappearance of groundwater are two of several factors that cause it,” the Washington Post reported.
A least one engineer has said the collapse could be related to a structural problem, not subsidence. The investigation continues, as does the search for bodies.
Knoxville sustainability center posts positive organic growth
KnoxNews: Sustainable Future Center in Vestal is growing and growing
David Bolt started the Sustainable Future Center horticulture and environmental education center six years ago on a half-acre with a tiny house, organic garden, horticultural demonstrations and a little fish farm.
Now he and his allies are expanding the center’s mission with makers markets, camps and other educational programs. The site on Ogle Avenue, a busy urban street in South Knoxville, now is now home to automated organic chicken coops, a chainlink fence transformed into a living trellis, summer camps and educational programs.
Solar panels required on every new roof in Berlin after 2022
PV Magazine & BO Klima: Berlin macht Solardächer zur Pflicht
The rooftop solar law, passed on June 16, says every new building and substantial renewal of an existing building’s roof must be equipped with solar panels covering at least 30 percent of the roof surface.
The German capital — which is on the same latitude as Labrador City — intends to become more climate friendly. It wants to act as a role model for other municipalities and states in how to accelerate the energy transition. It aims for solar to cover 25% of its electricity consumption.
The city contends, the solar potential of its roofs has gotten inadequate consideration and expects the new law will create many future-proof jobs in planning and trades.
Building owners may opt to use solar facade panels or contract with third parties to build and operate equivalent solar capacity that fulfills the mandate elsewhere in the city. But critics of the law say it does not address how to optimize its implementation with present practices, regulations, and tariffs. They predict, this law will be inefficient and costlier than other methods to stimulate renewable energy generation.
Bavaria, for example, launched an incentive program that awards combined new solar and battery storage installations. Applications for that program have multiplied quickly and now are deemed likely to surpass the 100,000 installations mark by the end of its third year.
Germany, whose entire southern border is farther north than Quebec City or Duluth, has a long history of technology and policy leadership in renewable energies. In 1991 the German Electricity Feed-in Act was the first in the world that mandated grid operators to connect all renewable power generators, pay them a guaranteed feed-in tariff for 20 years and prioritize these sources.
Take Back TVA Rally
August 18, 2021
Tennessee Valley Energy Democracy Movement
Outrage + Optimism
Global Optimism: “We Have to Be At War With Carbon”
The first 15 minutes of this podcast analyze the Shortcomings of the G7 Summit.
The second 15-minute segment is a conversation with the CEO of Rolls Royce about its goal to make long-distance flights Net Zero by 2050.
More...
Bear attacks girl in Smokies backcountry campground; responding rangers shoot and kill aggressive bear
Written by Thomas FraserGirl in stable condition following attack; family followed all bear-safety protocols.
A bear attacked and injured a teenage girl as she slept in a hammock in a backcountry campground in the Cosby area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The 16-year-old Middle Tennessee girl is in stable condition with multiple injuries following the attack at 12:30 a.m. Friday at backcountry site No. 29, according to a National Park Service release.
Her family was able to drive off the bear after the attack and contacted park emergency services; the girl was evacuated from the park by a Tennessee Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to UT Medical Center at about 9 a.m. Friday. Hellbender Press has not pursued identification of the girl because she is a minor.
As responding rangers were at the campsite providing medical care in the wee hours of the morning, two bears approached and persisted in efforts to enter the campsite despite attempts to scare the bears away. Family members identified a particularly aggressive large, male bear as the one who attacked the girl, and rangers shot and killed the animal.
Forensic tests detected human blood on the dead bear.
Park officials said the campsite, along the Maddron Bald Trail on Otter Creek, will remain closed indefinitely.
The party of five was on a two-day camping trip, and the hammock was hanging near the rest of the family.
The group stored their food and packs on cables, per strict national park bear rules, according to the park service.
“While serious incidents with bears are rare, we remind visitors to remain vigilant while in the backcountry and to follow all precautions while hiking in bear country,” said Great Smoky Mountains Superintendent Cassius Cash in a press release. “The safety of visitors is our No. 1 priority.”
Here are some guidelines for bear safety in the Southern Appalachians and information on bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Save Our Future Act introduced in Senate
CCL: Sweeping carbon pricing bill
On Wednesday, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Brian Schatz (HI) introduced the Save Our Future Act, comprehensive legislation that dramatically reduces emissions and protects environmental justice and coal communities.
In a statement, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Executive Director Mark Reynolds said, “The Save Our Future Act would place an ambitious price on carbon to reduce America's emissions, but it doesn't stop there. This legislation would also address long-standing environmental justice concerns by directly pricing emissions of fossil fuel co-pollutants in frontline communities, and it would invest in coal communities to support them through the transition to a clean energy economy.”
The bill is drawing positive comments from unions and environmental justice organizations.
In the House, the number of representatives cosponsoring the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act has grown to 68 already.
Saturday farmers market will return to Market Square in downtown Knoxville following pandemic shutdown
In a refreshing sign the worst of the Covid-19 crisis is behind us, the city of Knoxville on Monday announced the popular weekend Market Square farmers market will return July 10.
The Nourish Knoxville Market Square Farmers Market will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and feature local produce, organic foods, crafts, and other homespun products through November.
The Market Square farmers market resumed its Wednesday schedule in May with a smaller footprint and social-distancing measures. Markets on both days had been moved to another location in 2020 to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The city recommends, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, that people who have not been vaccinated continue to wear masks, according to a press release. Nourish Knoxville, which runs the farmers market, may require additional protocols for vendors and customers.
The Market Square splash fountains will be turned back on July 1. Fenced outdoor dining areas will also be removed.
Here's more information on the full return of the downtown Knoxville farmers market and other Market Square events.
NPR: Dangerous Fire Season Ahead
Western US in midst 20-year mega-drought
Read about it or listen to Randy Simon’s 2-minutedrought podcast on National Public Radio’s Earth Wise web page.