3 Good Health and Well-Being (65)
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
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 Smith
The 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 Jernigan
EPA 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.
- mountaintrue
- gray jernigan
- epa water regulations
- north carolina deq
- legislature hostile toward water permitting
- north carolina water quality
- north carolina water permitting process
- revoke nc water authority
- cape fear river watch
- environmental justice community action network
- haw river assembly
- 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 Tennessee Valley co-founder Sarah Bush picks heirloom tomatoes at Vuck Farm in Riceville. Élan Young/Hellbender Press
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
- slow food of tennessee valley
- sarah bush
- old city garden
- jim embry
- university of tennessee institute of agriculture
- pesto festo
- ark of taste
- tj teets
- riceville
- small farmer
- farmland loss
- young farmer
- regenerative farming
All-access passes enabled in Smokies: “This national park belongs to you”
Written by Ben Pounds
Vicky Wallace gets assistance crossing a creek in her off-road GRIT wheelchair during an adaptive camping outing along Cooper Road Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Yvonne Rogers/Hellbender Press
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.
- carly pearson
- park ranger katie corrigan
- grit freedom chairs
- cooper road trail
- great smoky mountains national park
- abrams creek
- campsite 1 smokies
- 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
- disabled access to outdoors
- people with disability
- accessibility
- people with limited ability
- adaptive program
TVA plans for Bull Run Fossil Plant site remain hazy
Written by Ben Pounds
A public playground near the site of the since-decommissioned Bull Run coal plant in Claxton, Tenn. Tennessee Valley Authority is weighing options for the site’s future. Abigail Baxter/Hellbender Press
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.
- kingston ash spill
- kingston coal ash spill
- kingston fossil plant retirement
- kingston coal ash worker
- roane county commission kingston ash spill
- swan pond kingston
- jamie satterfield
- federal coal ash rule
- advocacy and education about coal ash
- remember kingston
- personal protective equipment
- ppe
- dec 22 day of remembrance for coal ash cleanup workers
On tap: Learn how the local Sierra Club is fighting climate change
Harvey Broome hiding in a buckeye tree on the way to Hughes Ridge, July 25, 1931. Albert “Dutch” Roth
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.
Courtesy of Bike Walk Knoxville
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.
Anderson County nuclear site gains $13.5 million from state, feds for cleanup
Written by Anila Yoganathan
The remains of American Nuclear Corporation in Anderson County, Tenn. The company closed in 1972. Photo courtesy of Tennessee Lookout
American Nuclear Corporation leaked radioactive chemicals for years before it closed in 1972
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
CLAXTON — An East Tennessee site that has been contaminated for about 50 years with radioactive waste is set to be cleaned up with about $13.5 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation told Anderson County on October 9.
The American Nuclear Corporation site, located in Claxton, Tennessee, has been a source of concern for Anderson County Government for years. Local officials have reached out at various points since at least 2008 to the state, the EPA and their district’s congressmen for help on cleaning up the site, according to a compilation of county records distributed last year by then County Commissioner Catherine Denenberg to the county’s intergovernmental committee.
“I don’t know if we’re on camera, but in case we are, I am not going to dance but I am so darn excited about this!” County Mayor Terry Frank said after the announcement at the county’s intergovernmental meeting. “This is huge for Anderson County.”
In the 1960s, the American Nuclear Corporation “manufactured radiological sources for medical institutions,” a 2010 county application for the EPA’s National Brownfield Program grant said. The company had obtained source materials for their products from the Department of Energy. Isotopes that were handled included Cobalt-60 and Cesium-137, the application said.
“Poor housekeeping was a problem during the entire period that the plant was in operation, and is extensively documented in compliance letters by the Tennessee Department of Public Health — Division of Occupational and Radiological Health. ANC was repeatedly cited for violations involving radioactive material,” the application said.
- tracy wandell
- tennessee lookout
- american nuclear corporation
- anderson county
- nuclear waste cleanup
- tdec
- epa
- terry frank
- catherine denenberg
- melton hill dam
- steve sanders
- radiological contamination
- department of energy
- brownfield program
- tennessee department of public health — division of occupational and radiological health
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Study expounds upon evolution of mosquitoes and their hosts
This story was originally published on Phys.org and authored by Mick Kulikowski, Director of Strategic Communications and Media Relations at NC State University
Raleigh, NC — Researchers at North Carolina State University and global collaborators have mapped the mosquito’s tree of life, a major step toward understanding important traits, such as how the insects choose their hosts, feed on blood and spread disease. The findings will help researchers make better predictions to model disease transmission and understand what makes some mosquitoes better disease carriers than others.
The research suggests mosquito evolution over the past 200 million years mirrors the Earth’s history of shifting land masses and changing host organisms, said Dr. Brian Wiegmann, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Entomology at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the mosquito family tree.
The William Neal Reynolds Professorship is one of the highest distinctions available to NCSU faculty members.The Reynolds Professorships were established in 1950 by William Neal Reynolds, a long-time president and board chairman of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, to recognize and support outstanding faculty achievement in research, teaching and extension.
“This ongoing project builds a big-data resource that mines the academic literature with published observations of the sources of blood mosquitoes drink, from animals as diverse as fish to humans,” Wiegmann said. “It focuses explicitly on data collection to infer aspects of mosquito biology in a contextualized way. That means linking up the family, or phylogenetic, tree with the narrative of life on Earth: geologic history, climate history and organism history.”
SELC settlement protects blue-blood horseshoe crabs and their avian dependents
Red Knot. 
Chuck Homler
CHARLESTON — A landmark settlement prohibits horseshoe crab collection on the beaches of more than 30 islands along the South Carolina coast that are established feeding sites for rufa red knots during their annual migration — as well as any harvesting in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge — for at least five years.
Every spring, red knots time their 9,300-mile migration from South America to the Canadian Arctic perfectly so they stop on the same beaches of South Carolina at the exact moment horseshoe crabs begin to spawn.
These protein-rich crab eggs are critical for red knots, providing the fuel they need to complete their transpolar journey. This delicate relationship between horseshoe crabs and red knots has developed over millions of years.
Officials mull farm runoff as possible cause
NEWPORT — Tennessee state conservation, agricultural and environment officials are investigating a widespread fish kill along the lower Pigeon River.
The probe began on Aug. 12 after Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency officers noticed multiple species of dead fish along the river near Newport.
Aquatic life in the Pigeon River, a popular rafting, kayaking and fishing spot boasting big smallmouth bass, has steadily recovered following years of pollution from the upstream paper mill in Canton. The Pactiv Evergreen site permanently closed earlier this year, after it and previous owners drastically reduced the amount of effluent into the river. Fishing and whitewater sports rapidly took off from there.
TWRA didn’t immediately identify the reason for the fish kill, which remains under investigation, but alluded to sediment and agricultural runoff that spiked during heavy rains this month.
Here is the full news release from TWRA:
“The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) and the Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) are jointly investigating a fish kill on the Pigeon River above Newport.
“On Friday, TWRA wildlife officers reported dead fish on the Pigeon River from Edwina Bridge down to the Newport police station. TWRA fisheries biologists responded to the area documenting multiple species of dead fish at several locations. Based on the dispersal of the fish, recent water generation from the dam likely pushed them further downstream while leaving higher numbers of dead fish at the top of the kill zone.
“To determine potential contributing factors, biologists investigated the surrounding area and documented muddy runoff from agriculture fields likely caused by heavy rains in the area.
“TWRA biologists contacted the TDEC field office in Knoxville to assist with the incident and notified the Tennessee Department of Agriculture of the investigation.
The incident currently remains under investigation.”
Citizens continue call for TVA to adopt sustainable alternatives to coal plants
Written by Ben Pounds
Citizens are objecting to plans to replace the coal boilers at Kingston Fossil Plant with natural gas. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
Solar? Gas? Future of Kingston plant up in the air
KINGSTON — Tennessee Valley Authority is considering whether to go with gas or solar power after it closes the infamous Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee.
The plant has stood since 1955 in Roane County. The federal utility plans to close Kingston Fossil plant and is looking at ways to replace the power it generated. It’s asking the public for comments. The utility’s proposals center around replacing the power generated by the plant with either solar generation or natural gas. One option includes replacing the coal-powered plant at the site with a fossil gas plant.
TVA recently proposed to retire three units between 2026 and 2031 and the other six units between 2027 and 2033. Ash spilled from a dike at this plant in 2008. A lawsuit was recently resolved surrounding the health damage to people working on cleaning up the spill. TVA has identified trouble with starting up and shutting down the plant for power generation and technical issues with lower boilers as the reasons for closing the plant, not the spill.