3 Good Health and Well-Being (56)
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
TWRA warns of bird flu spikes throughout Tennessee; urges caution from hunters, farmers and bird watchers
Written by Lee Wilmot
If you have birdfeeders at home, remove any dead birds you may encounter and stop feeding; minimize any poultry/wildlife interactions
Lee Wilmot is a TWRA information specialist. This story will be updated.
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is reminding hunters to remain vigilant and take appropriate precautions as reported cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) increase among wild birds, backyard domestic flocks and commercial poultry flocks in the Southeast. HPAI is highly contagious among bird populations and is known to be deadly for domestic fowl.
(California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 18 declared a state of emergency in California as cases in that state jump dramatically).
“Numerous states in the Mississippi Flyway are reporting HPAI detections that are leading to dead and dying birds, mainly snow geese,” said Jamie Feddersen, TWRA Migratory Gamebird Coordinator. “Tennessee is also finding ducks and geese with HPAI. Hunters should follow safety precautions when handling these birds.”
“Since March 2022, Tennessee has confirmed numerous cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in wild birds, including ducks, Canada geese, vultures and a Bald Eagle,” said TWRA Wildlife and Forestry Chief Joe Benedict. “We urge homeowners and hunters to take precautions to prevent the spread of the disease in Tennessee and to protect wildlife and poultry populations.”
A long, sad tale of when coal ash filled a valley so low
Written by Ray Zimmerman
Journalist’s book offers deep sweep of 2008 coal-ash disaster at TVA’s Kingston coal plant
CHATTANOOGA — Jared Sullivan’s book, Valley So Low, is “A courtroom drama about the victims of one of the largest environmental disasters in US history — and the country lawyer who challenged the notion that, in America, justice can be bought.” Those words from the publisher’s dust jacket sum up the story, but the pathos of workers, certain that they got sick on the job, and the lawyer’s struggle against a well-funded corporate defense, is in the details.
Most residents of the Tennessee Valley remember the 2008 disaster when a wall of a coal ash slurry rushed out of the Kingston Steam Plant, flooding the Emory River and inundating 300 acres of the surrounding countryside.
Sullivan offered insight into the story to an audience in Chattanooga in October. When workers fell ill after the cleanup, local personal injury lawyer Jim Scott challenged Jacob’s Engineering, a private company the Tennessee Valley Authority contracted to manage the cleanup. Scott was the only lawyer willing to take their case, according to Sullivan.
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- environmental journalism
State your case in local quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
KNOXVILLE — The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization seeks the public’s feedback on greenhouse gas emissions in East Tennessee. Take this brief survey and make your voice heard:
- The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and covers topics like climate change, energy efficiency and transportation to shape ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region. The survey is open through Sept. 30 at www.knoxbreathesurvey.com
- Residents of all nine counties within the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) — Knox, Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Loudon, Morgan, Roane and Union — are encouraged to take the survey and make their voices heard.
- The Knoxville MSA was one of 82 metropolitan areas in the U.S. selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to receive a planning grant to create a regional emission reduction plan as part of the agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program. “BREATHE” is the name for the Knoxville region’s CPRG initiative.
- More information on “BREATHE” can be found at knoxbreathe.org
CANCELED Rural Resources 2024 Incredible Farm Dinner Downtown
With the devastation across Greene County, we have decided to cancel this evening’s Incredible Farm Dinner Downtown.
Thanks to your support, we will donate the meals to those displaced, as well as first responders.
Please join us in praying for Greene County as we all help each other get through this difficult time.
Our Sincerest thanks for your continued support of the Rural Resources Farm Education Center.
Warmest Regards,
The Rural Resources Staff & Board of Directors
GREENEVILLE — This year the superlative annual fundraiser for the Farm & Food Education Center of Rural Resources will benefit Rural Resources’ Teen Training Program. The event will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday Sept. 28 at 615 West Main St. and feature Chef Elise Clair. She is creating a colorful seasonal menu sourced by our Greene County and East Tennessee neighbors.
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, and a graduate of East Tennessee State University, Clair has a solid 25 years of experience in the culinary industry and scratch kitchens. Now with 15 years as vice president of JDD Enterprises, Clair maintains operations for The Main Street Pizza Company locations in Johnson City and Kingsport, River Creek Farm based in Limestone, River Creek Catering, and County Line Pie in Chuckey.
Claire focuses her menus and garden on seasonal Appalachian standards, highlighting local products from other Central Appalachian region growers and producers. On the farm, Clair and her partner maintain a non-certified organic practice fruit and veggie garden across multiple acres.
We invite you to desire, smell, taste and experience the quality of the freshly harvested meal prepared for you at The Rural Resources Incredible Farm Dinner. Hurry to secure your seats at the table!
Nov. 2: Talk about the weather with NOAA scientists
This event was rescheduled from a previous date.
MORRISTOWN — The regional office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hosting a free open house featuring tours, scientific discussions and chats with area forecasters intimate with the intricacies of Southern Appalachian weather.
Stop by the regional office, 5974 Commerce Blvd. in Morristown, any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2 to learn about the National Weather Service as a whole, tour operations and learn what a typical work day looks like at the weather-service office.
Highlights include chances to meet meteorologists and weather-service partner agencies; explanations of when and how severe weather alerts are issued; an introduction to weather radar and radio; hydrology discussions; and hands-on science activities for children.
Growing a Food Forest
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, 5:30 p.m. at Barrelhouse by Gypsy Circus (621 Lamar Street). RSVP on Facebook
Green Drinks Knoxville will host an in-depth discussion with Dave Maasberg on how he maintains his food forest including some rare heirloom apple varieties, figs, pears, blackberries and more. He will bring samples to try and fruits for purchase to savor at home.
Raised around agriculture and the vanishing small-scale, midwestern family farm, Dave has always held a special place for fruit trees and perennial plants. After a Foraging and Wild Edible Plants class at Indiana University, his desire to create a food forest and sustainable homestead quickly turned into a reality. After over 20 years of planting and maintaining various fruiting plants on a reclaimed hillside, he is excited to share his journey with us. He currently helps others with plantings, from small scale to larger projects.
Green Drinks Knoxville is a social and professional organization that convenes open-minded folks to encourage education and conversation about the environment, green technologies, sustainable lifestyles and more.
Our events are free and open to the public. We welcome all and support racial diversity, gender equality, and LGBTQ inclusivity.
Editorial: As historic climate legislation turns two, the numbers don't lie
Written by Stephen SmithThe IRA’s clean-energy progress is clearest in our communities
Stephen Smith is executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. He was a founder of the Foundation for Global Sustainability (FGS) and serves on the FGS board of directors. Hellbender Press is published by FGS.
KNOXVILLE — The largest climate investment legislation in U.S. history, the Inflation Reduction Act, celebrated its two-year anniversary in August: two years of reducing harmful pollution, of creating thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs, of welcoming billions of dollars in clean energy investments to the Southeast. The ways the IRA has and will continue to benefit our region and beyond are innumerable — and the numbers don’t lie.
The IRA’s progress is clearest here in our communities: between Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, 559,820 households received more than $1.3 billion in residential clean energy and energy-efficiency tax credits in tax year 2023. Real people are saving money and benefiting from the historic climate law every day — take it from seven SACE members, their IRA stories and the encouraging statistics mentioned here.
The reach of the IRA stretches beyond our homes — over 70,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations now dot the U.S., and federal tax credits on both new and used EVs have saved consumers over $1 billion so far this year alone. Last month, SACE released its updated 2024 Electrify the South Electric Transportation Toolkit to help guide decision-makers through this time of enormous opportunity.
Editorial: Revoke North Carolina’s water regulatory authority
Written by Gray JerniganEPA should take over water protections in face of hostile legislature
Gray Jernigan is deputy director and general counsel for MountainTrue.
RALEIGH — MountainTrue is committed to safeguarding the public water resources of Western North Carolina. Our mission to protect the health of our waterways and the well-being of our communities has never been more critical. However, the obstacles we now face have made it clear that the state cannot meet its obligations under the Clean Water Act.
Therefore, MountainTrue has joined the Southern Environmental Law Center, Cape Fear River Watch, Environmental Justice Community Action Network and the Haw River Assembly in filing a formal petition asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw North Carolina’s authority to regulate water pollution. This action is necessary because the state legislature has crippled the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s ability to protect our waterways, drinking water sources and communities from harmful pollution.
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- support clean water in western north carolina
Not just a bougie supper club: Slow Food returns, patiently, to mountains
Written by Élan Young
Slow Food ramps up regional food resilience efforts
RICEVILLE — On a hot summer day in late June, Sarah Bush, co-founder of Slow Food Tennessee Valley, slices some varieties of tender heirloom tomatoes freshly picked from tall rows of plants strung up in a giant, covered hoop-style greenhouse before serving them on a cutting board with a bit of farm-fresh chevre and basil.
The tomatoes span hues of yellow, red, green and purple, some a solid color or slightly striped and bearing intriguing names not found in grocery stores: striped Heart, Cherokee evergreen, chocolate stripe and Valencia. The flavor combinations explode into farm-to-table bliss.
The tomatoes are especially terrific for a reason: Bush, 46, has practiced regenerative farming since she was 28.
Mentored by other small farmers around the country who taught her how to exist and thrive in an economy that favors Big Ag, she now splits her time between Vuck Farm, a biodynamic farm in Riceville owned by her partner TJ Teets, and managing the produce department at Three Rivers Market in Knoxville — Tennessee’s only cooperative grocery.
She also serves on the planning committee for CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training), which is run by the Southeastern Tennessee chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition.
Not a bougie supper club
Founded in 2008, the Tennessee Valley chapter of Slow Food is the only chapter in the state that has remained active since its founding.
A little more than two decades earlier in 1986, thousands of Italians gathered at the base of the sprawling Piazza di Spagna in the center of Rome to protest the country’s first McDonald’s restaurant. Slow Food’s founder, Italian journalist Carlo Petrini, was among them. Instead of bringing a sign with a slogan, Petrini brought a big bowl of penne pasta to share with the crowd chanting We don’t want fast food. We want Slow Food! Three years later the movement became an official organization and today spans 160 countries.
- three rivers market
- collaborative regional alliance for farmer training
- vuck farm
- national young farmers coalition
- alice waters
- wendell berry
- slow food
- tennessee agriculture enhancement program
- terra madre
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- sarah bush
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- jim embry
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All-access passes enabled in Smokies: “This national park belongs to you”
Written by Ben Pounds
Adapted to their environment, wheelchair users venture into Smokies backcountry
TOWNSEND — Four wheelchair users ventured this month to an Abrams Creek backcountry campsite in a first for the Smokies.
Borne by GRIT Freedom Chairs, the able trekkers arrived June 8 in a collaborative event featuring Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Knox County, Kampgrounds of America Foundation and Catalyst Sports. The intrepid group had headed up about a mile of the wide, gravel Cooper Road Trail over hills toward Campsite 1, past horses, along and through streams, finally reaching their campsite. The three-wheeled, arm-powered GRIT chairs are designed for off-road routes.
For much of the route the adaptive hikers used their arms to move their chairs, but other people accompanied them on foot, sometimes helping them up difficult hills or over streams. Those in the chairs enjoyed the mountain water that rushed over their feet.
Park Ranger Katie Corrigan talked about highlights of the natural world around them and led discussions on the concepts of wildness and wilderness. Just like many other backcountry campers, the group of adventurers ate s’mores and slept in tents at the campsite before heading back down Cooper Road to the trailhead the next day.
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- cooper road trail
- great smoky mountains national park
- abrams creek
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- kampgrounds of america foundation
- catalyst sports
- daniel penley
- kaitlyn lengel
- vicky wallace
- americans with disabilities act coordinator for knox county
- adaptive sports
- adaptive recreation
- adaptive kayaking
- adaptive recreation smokies
- disabled access
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- people with disability
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- adaptive program
More...
TVA plans for Bull Run Fossil Plant site remain hazy
Written by Ben Pounds
Solar production and public green space remain options; coal ash questions remain
CLAXTON — Tennessee Valley Authority will demolish most structures at Bull Run Fossil Plant but has not yet shared plans for the ultimate disposition or reuse of the property.
Bull Run Fossil Plant was a coal-fired plant in the Claxton community, located just outside of Oak Ridge in Anderson County, Tenn. The plant opened in 1967. TVA closed it in 2023, and plans to phase out all its coal fired plants by 203.
The utility and its spokesman Scott Brooks have listed the scrubbers, coal handling structures and the large chimney, nicknamed the “lighthouse” by locals, as structures that will likely come down.
TVA has listed some possibilities for the site, including battery storage, park areas, “economic development” and a synchronous condenser, which is a device meant to keep the overall grid's power supply stable without generating any power of its own. This last option would involve keeping and repurposing the turbine building. TVA has not committed to any of these ideas.
15 years on, Roane County honors victims of 2008 TVA coal ash spill
Written by Anila Yoganathan
Workers with engineering firm responsible for cleanup lacked protective gear for handling toxic agents
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
KINGSTON — The Roane County Commission this month honored the memory and labor of the workers who cleaned up the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 2008 Kingston coal ash spill by funding a historical marker and approving a proclamation that Dec. 22 will be a day to honor the workers.
This December marks 15 years since the spill. In the early hours of Dec. 22, 2008 at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant, 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash was released, spilling into the Swan Pond Embayment and the Emory River Channel, covering about 300 acres, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal ash is the concentrated waste left after burning coal. This waste can come in different sized particles from coarse bottom ash with the consistency of sand and gravel to fine dust like particles that compose fly ash. The smaller the particle the more easily these particles can be inhaled or ingested. This waste can contain heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and cadmium and potentially elements that emit radiation.
Exposure to these elements can potentially cause various health impacts, including cancers.
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On tap: Learn how the local Sierra Club is fighting climate change
KNOXVILLE — The latest round of Conversation on Tap features members of the local Harvey Broome group of the Sierra Club discussing its efforts to address climate change.
It’s set for 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at Albright Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave. Proceeds from the event will benefit Discover Life in America, a crucial science partner with Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Join Harvey Broome group vice-chairman Jerry Thornton and others to learn more about the local chapter of the Sierra Club and its efforts to address climate change.
Named after a Smokies advocate and Wilderness Society founder, the Harvey Broome chapter of the Sierra Club has been fighting to preserve wild places; create clean, safe communities; and encourage recycling and clean energy since 1972.
Photograph from the Albert “Dutch” Ross Photograph Collection at the University of Tennessee Libraries
Albert Gordon "Dutch" Roth, born September 20, 1890 in Knoxville, Tennessee, is recognized as one of the most prolific early photographers of the Great Smoky Mountains' Greenbrier and Mount Le Conte sections. An early member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, his photographs document club hikes and activities, including the construction of the clubhouse at Greenbrier.
What began in 1913 as a diversion soon developed into a serious avocation as Roth perfected his penchant for photography while avidly hiking the unexplored regions near his home. He worked primarily with a Kodak Autographic 122 camera, and, often carrying a heavy tripod, would climb twenty to thirty feet up a tree or venture hundreds of yards off the trail to capture the landscape images for which he was later noted.
How many will have made it from start to finish?
Written by Hellbender Press
2023 Mountain Commerce Challenge is almost finished
Knoxville — Legacy Parks Foundation will wrap up another great year of the Mountain Commerce Challenge on Saturday, December 9 with the 17th Tour de Lights bike ride and celebration. The free and family-friendly holiday bike ride is presented by Visit Knoxville and Bike Walk Knoxville. Riders will meet 4 p.m. at the Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center to decorate their bikes before heading to Mary Costa Plaza for the festivities.
Meanwhile, spectators and costume contestants will already enjoy themselves at a more leisurely pace at Holiday Market & Expo, which opens 3:30 p.m. on Mary Costa Plaza by the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
The glamorous 5-mile pedal parade will circle through East Knoxville neighborhoods to culminate coming down Gay Street.
Those who bring their ‘Challenge Checklist’ showing 75 miles completed will receive a special patch to commemorate all of the great hiking, biking and paddling accomplished this year!
Everyone who registers for the Tour de Lights or the Costume Contest will receive a commemorative T-shirt and be entered for some exciting ‘door prizes.’
Mountain Commerce Challenge
The Mountain Commerce Challenge is named for Mountain Commerce Bank (MCB), which sponsored this challenge for its third year with a $15,000 donation to the Legacy Parks Foundation. The locally-owned community bank was founded 1910 in Erwin, where it acquired the former Erwin National Bank. MCB is 5-star rated by Bauer Financial and nationally ranks among the top 50 community banks.
Community banks are a cornerstone of community economic resilience because they invest customer deposits in the regional economy. That is particularly important for businesses that depend on regional natural resources and a local workforce with extensive experience and a deep understanding of local conditions.