I’ll freely admit it:  I like to vacation in North Carolina.  I once lived in Asheville, in the lovely mountains at the far western edge of the state, and I found the town beautiful, the people friendly, and I miss it.  It reminded me of visiting my family in the mountains and hollers of Southwestern Virginia [...]

Have you ever heard of Gaia?  Look back on your Greek mythology.  Gaia was the great mother of all, the goddess of all of the Earth.  All of the gods, Titans, and Giants were born from her. Gaia is also a hypothesis developed by James Lovelock.  Lovelock is a scientist and chemist, and posed that [...]

Deep Creek Middle School in Chesapeake has been awarded a $750 grant in the Recycling Category.  The Keep Virginia Beautiful 30 Grants in 30 Days Program focuses greater resources and attention on organizations and individual localities throughout the Commonwealth and how they are addressing the issues of litter prevention, recycling, waste reduction, beautification and education. We [...]

Though you would never know it with the weather that we’ve been having, it is almost Spring.  That can only mean one thing: It’s almost time for the Great American Cleanup! The Great American Cleanup is the largest grassroots community project in the United States.  We had a great turn-out last year, and we suppose that Keep [...]

                    If you’re reading this, you can probably thank a power plant. Unless you’re completely off of the grid, you need consistent, reliable electricity to get your power.  Most of that power comes from some pretty dirty sources, though. A recent EPA report says that power [...]

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the first powered flight in an aircraft.  They took the Wright Flyer to a height of 10 feet and flew 852 feet at a speed of about 7 miles per hour.  Little did they know… About 20 years later, in 1923, Lieutenants Oakley Kelly and John Macready [...]

I came across a link on Facebook recently that asked me to sign a petition opposing mountaintop removal mining at Ison Rock Ridge in Southwest Virginia.  This is in the woodlands around Appalachia, Big Stone Gap, and on the way to Cumberland Gap.  It’s in the gorgeous mountains and valleys of Wise County. It’s a beautiful part [...]

My entire family is from Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia.  My parents had moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. by the time that I was born but I remember well the many summers and holidays that I spent with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in the pastures and woods that made up the [...]

What did you do when the lights went out?  I was in downtown Richmond when Irene came to visit and watched with amazement as neighborhoods began to lose power.  What was so amazing to me was the level of understanding that Richmonders had about our power grid. The first blow was a tree falling on my [...]