This is an excerpt from a 1966 article in Mining Congress Journal indicating mining interests were already aware of the potential for climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions.

Circuit Court ruling: Private emails on public servers don’t always equal public records

KNOXVILLE — A Knox County judge ruled in a lawsuit that spun off from the “Coal Knew, Too” scandal that emails sent or received by a University of Tennessee professor aren’t public records.

Circuit Court Judge William T. Ailor turned aside a bid made by Knoxville-based writer Kathleen Marquardt to review the emails of Chris Cherry, a professor with UT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, according to court records. 

Marquardt filed the Public Records lawsuit four years ago, but the case didn’t actually make it into a courtroom until a pair of hearings held earlier this year. 

According to Judge Ailor’s opinion, the bare fact that Cherry and freelance reporter Élan Young (who was also employed by UT at the time and currently writes for Hellbender Press) exchanged emails using their UT accounts “does not raise the emails themselves to the level of being public records.” 

The origins of the lawsuit date back to 2019, when Cherry rescued some old coal industry trade journals that a colleague was about to toss in a dumpster after cleaning out an office.

In one of the discarded issues of the Mining Congress Journal was an article from 1966 that contained a statement from the then-president of a coal mining organization explaining that fossil fuel use was causing an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that would cause vast changes in the Earth’s climate through global warming. 

One person hung on for dear life as big waves churned back and forth for minutes. 

Thanks to our friends at Compass for linking our original coverage and pointing us to the video of the spine-chilling incident. Tap the More…  button to access the full original article, which begins below, and the video from which we snapped this frame.

Towels, shoes, plastic toys and sunglasses were among the items left behind Saturday afternoon when dozens of people were forced to flee as powerful waves battered the shoreline after a rockslide at Mead’s Quarry Lake.  J.J. Stambaugh/Hellbender Press

At least one person transported by ambulance; witness describes other injuries at Mead’s Quarry

KNOXVILLE — Calvin Sebourn was one of dozens of men, women and children who found themselves fighting for their lives Saturday afternoon at Mead’s Quarry Lake when a sudden rockslide triggered 10-foot-tall waves that inundated the opposite shore. 

Luckily, it appeared that no more than five people received minor injuries and only one of them was hurt badly enough to warrant an ambulance trip to a nearby hospital. 

The quarry is one of the most popular attractions at Ijams Nature Center in South Knoxville, and authorities said Saturday night it would be closed until further notice while the site is inspected. 

Coal industry acknowledged its contribution to climate change in 1966

KNOXVILLE — It began innocently enough.

A little over four years ago, an old trade journal was rescued en route to a dumpster by a professor from the University of Tennessee’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Professor Chris Cherry had no reason to suspect the journal contained a powerhouse revelation — the coal industry had been aware since 1966 that burning fossil fuels would eventually trigger cataclysmic global warming and had subsequently engaged in a decades-long coverup to protect corporate profits.

Cherry’s surprise discovery soon became international news thanks to a story written by a fellow UT employee, Élan Young, that was picked up by Huffpost. (Young is a regular contributor to Hellbender Press).

Former University of Tennessee Professor John Nolt strolls through his garden during a recent conversation about his career as a philosopher and one of the Southern Appalachian region’s most respected environmental activists.  J.J. Stambaugh/Hellbender Press

Former UTK prof defends the environment, logically

KNOXVILLE — It’s hard to think of many figures in the local environmental movement who command the respect that former University of Tennessee Professor John Nolt has earned over the past four decades.

He has served as a leader, a teacher, and a repository of wisdom for thousands of students and activists. He’s authored eight books on environmental ethics and logic, and he was one of the main players in the struggle to force a cleanup of the notorious David Witherspoon Inc. site in South Knoxville. 

While the 73-year-old philosopher’s formal academic career came to an end a couple of years ago, I feel privileged to report that he’s continued to add to his legacy. You see, it’s come to my attention that quite a few people are curious to know what he’s up to these days, and Hellbender Press agreed that I should chat him up.

Cynthia Maples, the head beekeeper at Zoo Knoxville, checks out her buzzing charges.  JJ Stambaugh

With no clear cause, after two decades beekeepers across North America report losing up to 90 percent of their hives.

Although the alarming losses of the 2006-7 season have not repeated, since then, experts consistently track higher than normal winter losses among honeybee colonies, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A survey by the University of Maryland University of Maryland found 40% of US honeybee colonies died between April 2018 and April 2019.

While most Americans associate the insects with one of humankind’s oldest sweet treats - honey - they might not realize honeybees are actually an invasive species that can end up competing for resources with indigenous “pollinators” such as bumblebees. 

“Worldwide, there are over 20,000 species of bees,” said Cynthia Maples, the lead beekeeper and apiarist at Zoo Knoxville. “About 265 of those are bumble bees. In North America, there are 46 bumblebee species. In the southeast, we have about 15 bumble species with at least six of those in decline.”

Maples explained all bees are part of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants and wasps.

“Native pollinators would classify as those species naturally occurring in a particular area, not introduced. Honeybees are technically an invasive species to North America. They were brought over from Europe by humans,” she said.

“In the past few years the narrative has made a switch from keeping honeybees to help native pollinators to the realization that honeybees may be stealing resources from native pollinators,” she continued. “Honeybees are still very important as agricultural pollinators, but protecting native pollinators is also very important.”

While Maples doesn’t know if local bee populations are on the ropes, she said the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (an international nonprofit group) has formed regional “community science groups” as part of a widespread effort to track bumblebee species. 

“It’s really hard to say specifically if there has been a decline in local insect populations since insects are very difficult to track,” she said. “I took part in the training for the southeast bumble bee atlas earlier this year. The hope is that this atlas will give scientists a better idea of population numbers.”

It’s important that scientists understand any threats to the health of the world’s bee populations as the insects are vital to humankind’s ability to survive.

Bees — both domesticated and wild — are responsible for pollinating 71 of the 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of the global food supply, according to experts from greentumble.

Without bees, for instance, there would be no apples, avocados, onions, cucumbers, oranges or almonds. 

“Pollination is defined as the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma,” Maples explained. “When bees go from flower to flower collecting pollen, they are also depositing pollen grains onto the flowers, thus pollinating them. Not all plants rely on insects to reproduce; for example, some are wind pollinated.”

“The bees benefit because nectar and pollen are their food source. Nectar is an energy source and pollen is a protein source for them. Many agricultural plants are pollinated by bees, hence their importance for us. Roughly one in three bites of food are pollinated by bees, plus another 25 percent of animal feed stuffs. Almonds are 100 percent honeybee pollinated.”

It’s not entirely clear why bee populations appear to be shrinking, but Maples said there’s no shortage of possible explanations.

“As with many species in decline, there are a number of reasons behind it,” she said. “Habitat loss is a big one. Our culture has taught us that we should have pristine lawns without ‘weeds,’ but letting your yard — even in part — grow wild would be a huge step in creating more resources for pollinators. Dandelions and clover can be a haven for pollinators.”

Poisons used to control unwanted animals and insects are another factor. 

“Pesticides have a huge impact as well, especially though containing neonicotinoids,” she said. “Pesticides rarely distinguish between beneficial invertebrates and those that cause harm.”

This summer’s historic heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere may also be playing a role, but Maples cautioned that it’s too early to know for certain what the impact is. 

“Climate change may also be playing a role,” she explained. “It isn’t clear if bumblebees are adapting to changing temperatures within their normal ranges.” 

Those interested in helping researchers to track bee populations can go to Xerces and learn about taking part in one of the organization’s community science groups.

Do bees really have knees? And more on the idiom.

Andrew Gunnoe is seen in the rain on Little River in Blount County, Tennessee. He is board director for Little River Watershed Association.  Courtesy LRWA

Andrew Gunnoe helms spirited efforts to preserve beloved Little River but the current is swift

MARYVILLE — For 25 years, the handful of men and women involved with the nonprofit Little River Watershed Association (LRWA) have been protecting the crystal clear waters as they plummet from the Great Smoky Mountains before meandering through Blount County and merging with the Tennessee River.

“We see ourselves as the voice of the Little River, speaking for the river and its health,” said Andrew Gunnoe, president of the LRWA Board of Directors.

From the famous swimming hole at the Wye to the profusion of inner tube rental companies in Townsend, the Little River is one of the region’s most popular spots for water recreation. Further downstream, the waterway becomes an almost perfect spot for fishing, canoeing and kayaking.

For all the popularity as a recreation stop, the 59-mile stretch of water is also a vital habitat for numerous aquatic species and provides the 120,000-plus residents of Blount County with drinking water. 

The final passage, describing a character’s dreams about his father, from Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country For Old Men.” The acclaimed book was developed into a screenplay that ultimately won an Oscar for best picture. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

‘A malign star kept him:’ McCarthy offered a fever-dream toast to Knoxville’s frontier river town roots

KNOXVILLE — Cormac McCarthy, the onetime Knoxvillian who rose from obscurity to the heights of fame by penning some of the most violent works in the Western literary canon, died Tuesday, June 13 at his home in New Mexico. 

McCarthy was considered by some critics to be America’s greatest living author. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2007 novel “The Road.” Another novel, “All The Pretty Horses,” won the National Book Award in 1992 and a movie made from his book “No Country For Old Men” won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The novelist studied at the University of Tennessee and became an infamous recluse who lived at points in a dairy barn and an RV. He rarely gave interviews, and was known to prefer the company of scientists to that of other writers.

McCarthy admired the works of Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoevsky and William Faulkner, and he is the only Knoxvillian to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction other than James Agee. His work was often divisive, however, as his relentlessly masculine and unsentimental outlook led him to plumb the depths of human desperation and depravity through characters such as cannibals, necrophiliacs and mass murderers.

His literary vision focused on humankind’s cosmic insignificance by pitting rough-hewn men against primordial nature on a succession of vividly realized stages carved from history and myth. Faulkner might have said the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself, but McCarthy opined that serious authors should focus on the struggle of life against death. 

According to Knoxville historian Jack Neely, McCarthy drew heavily from his surroundings, especially in the vivid depictions of Knoxville contained in “Suttree.”

“The descriptions of Market Square, in both “Suttree” and his first novel, “The Orchard Keeper,” are dense, accurate, unsparing and poetic,” Neely said. “I quoted them in my Market Square book, and a passage from ‘Suttree’ is engraved in marble in the middle of the square.

“One, from Suttree, ostensibly from a day in 1951, could have described a scene I witnessed there last week: ‘He went among vendors and beggars and wild street preachers haranguing a lost world with a vigor unknown to the sane.’”

Neely also singled out another passage that comes just paragraphs later, where McCarthy describes the old Market House: “Where brick the color of dried blood rose turreted and cupolaed and crazed into the heat of the day form on form in demented accretion without precedent or counterpart in the annals of architecture.”

This photo of the Southern Appalachians was taken from 30,000 feet. “Notice how the clouds are parallel with the ridges below them. Wind near the surface blowing up the western slopes forms waves in the atmosphere. At the crest of the wave, over the ridge tops, the air has cooled sufficiently to condense into clouds. As this air descends toward the wave trough, it becomes slightly warmer and drier, inhibiting condensation.”  Seth Adams via NASA

Earth Day activities have cooled in Knoxville over the decades. The planet has not.

KNOXVILLE — It’s been 52 years since the modern environmental movement was born on what is now known around the world as Earth Day.

Now reckoned to be the world’s largest secular observance, Earth Day is the climax of Earth Week (April 16 to 22), which brings together an estimated billion people around the globe working to change human behavior and push for pro-environment economic and legislative action. This year’s theme is “Invest in the planet.”

Events marking Earth Day in Knoxville tend to vary in size and tone from year-to-year, with 2023 providing environmentally minded residents with a number of ways to celebrate Mother Earth. 

Perhaps the most memorable of those years was the very first one, when one of the most important voices in the burgeoning environmental movement spoke on the University of Tennessee campus.

Jane Jacobs, who is now recognized as “the godmother of the New Urbanism movement,” gave a lecture to a crowd of nearly 200 people on the topic of “Man and His Environment” at the Alumni Memorial Hall, according to Jack Neely, who heads the Knoxville History Project.

Conservation Fisheries Executive Director Bo Baxter (second from right) leads young students in an inventory of Little River fish. The “Stream School” collaboration with Little River Watershed Association gets kids in creeks and rivers.  Michael Mollish /Tennessee Valley Authority

‘It’s very good for the soul.’ Bo Baxter and Conservation Fisheries focus underwater to save our Southern fishes.

This is the latest installment of an occasional series, Hellbent, profiling citizens and organizations who work to preserve and improve the Southern Appalachian environment.

KNOXVILLE — For more than 35 years, an obscure nonprofit headquartered here has grown into one of the most quietly successful champions of ecology and environmental restoration in the Eastern United States.

Conservation Fisheries, which occupies a 5,000-square foot facility near the Pellissippi State University campus on Division Street, has spent nearly four decades restoring native fish populations to numerous waterways damaged years ago by misguided governmental policies. 

In fact, the mid-20th century saw wildlife officials frequently exterminating key aquatic species to make way for game fish like trout.

“It was bad science, but it was the best they had at the time,” said Conservation Fisheries Executive Director Bo Baxter. “A lot of the central concepts of ecology, like food webs and communities, were not developed back then.”