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• Earth Day is every day, but especially this Saturday
  in News
  By JJ Stambaugh

  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.

• You can help Knoxville become a wood-powered tree city
  in News
  By JJ Stambaugh

  This is a basic breakdown on the social benefits associated with robust tree canopy in cities, including the city center of Knoxville, shown here.  Knoxville City Government

  City kicks off ambitious project to expand the tree canopy that benefits us all

  KNOXVILLE — The people in this city sure seem to love their trees.

  There is at least one tree for every two people who live within the city limits, but officials say they want to add even more over the next 20 years. 

  How many should be planted is currently up in the air, as is the right mix of species and where they should go.

  Those are just some of the questions that will be answered in coming months as the Knoxville Urban Forest Master Plan is developed by officials from the city and the non-profit group Trees Knoxville in conjunction with several other agencies and interested citizens.

• Seeing the city for the trees
  in News
  By JJ Stambaugh

  This mighty oak is but one of many growing for decades in South Knoxville.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

  Contribute to the master plan to grow tree canopy in Knoxville

  KNOXVILLE — No matter where you are in the city, you’re not far from a patch or two of trees.

  These copses range from small groupings of oaks or dogwoods that are commonly used to mark property boundaries to lush belts of temperate mixed-hardwood forest that sprawl across hundreds of acres. 

  While Knoxville may be blessed with an abundance of these urban forests, many local residents and leaders believe it’s nowhere near enough.