#appalachia — Public Fediverse posts

#Introduction I'm Sunflower. I love #Appalachia & I'm trying to take back owning my #music. Looking for folks w/similar music taste like
Dolly Parton
Mumford & Sons
Old Dominion
Green Day
Hootie & the Blowfish
Cold War Kids
Joywave
Artic Monkeys
CCR
Young the Giant
Chris Stapleton
Shania Twain
Blonde
Smashing Pumpkins
The Killers
Temper City
Goo Goo Dolls
The Cranberries
Alabama Shakes
Smash Mouth
Coldplay
ELO
NEEDTOBREATHE
Jelly Roll
Good Charlotte
Cigarettes @ Sunset
Sister Hazel

#Introduction I'm Sunflower. I love #Appalachia & I'm trying to take back owning my #music. Looking for folks w/similar music taste like
Dolly Parton
Mumford & Sons
Old Dominion
Green Day
Hootie & the Blowfish
Cold War Kids
Joywave
Artic Monkeys
CCR
Young the Giant
Chris Stapleton
Shania Twain
Blonde
Smashing Pumpkins
The Killers
Temper City
Goo Goo Dolls
The Cranberries
Alabama Shakes
Smash Mouth
Coldplay
ELO
NEEDTOBREATHE
Jelly Roll
Good Charlotte
Cigarettes @ Sunset
Sister Hazel

#Introduction I'm Sunflower. I love #Appalachia & I'm trying to take back owning my #music. Looking for folks w/similar music taste like
Dolly Parton
Mumford & Sons
Old Dominion
Green Day
Hootie & the Blowfish
Cold War Kids
Joywave
Artic Monkeys
CCR
Young the Giant
Chris Stapleton
Shania Twain
Blonde
Smashing Pumpkins
The Killers
Temper City
Goo Goo Dolls
The Cranberries
Alabama Shakes
Smash Mouth
Coldplay
ELO
NEEDTOBREATHE
Jelly Roll
Good Charlotte
Cigarettes @ Sunset
Sister Hazel

#Introduction I'm Sunflower. I love #Appalachia & I'm trying to take back owning my #music. Looking for folks w/similar music taste like
Dolly Parton
Mumford & Sons
Old Dominion
Green Day
Hootie & the Blowfish
Cold War Kids
Joywave
Artic Monkeys
CCR
Young the Giant
Chris Stapleton
Shania Twain
Blonde
Smashing Pumpkins
The Killers
Temper City
Goo Goo Dolls
The Cranberries
Alabama Shakes
Smash Mouth
Coldplay
ELO
NEEDTOBREATHE
Jelly Roll
Good Charlotte
Cigarettes @ Sunset
Sister Hazel

#Introduction I'm Sunflower. I love #Appalachia & I'm trying to take back owning my #music. Looking for folks w/similar music taste like
Dolly Parton
Mumford & Sons
Old Dominion
Green Day
Hootie & the Blowfish
Cold War Kids
Joywave
Artic Monkeys
CCR
Young the Giant
Chris Stapleton
Shania Twain
Blonde
Smashing Pumpkins
The Killers
Temper City
Goo Goo Dolls
The Cranberries
Alabama Shakes
Smash Mouth
Coldplay
ELO
NEEDTOBREATHE
Jelly Roll
Good Charlotte
Cigarettes @ Sunset
Sister Hazel

Webs & sunbeams #sun #photography #macro #Appalachia #web

Webs & sunbeams #sun #photography #macro #Appalachia #web

Webs & sunbeams #sun #photography #macro #Appalachia #web

Webs & sunbeams #sun #photography #macro #Appalachia #web

Webs & sunbeams #sun #photography #macro #Appalachia #web

To Live Here, You Have to Fight How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice, 2017

Launched in 1964, the War on Poverty quickly took aim at the coalfields of southern Appalachia. There, the federal government found unexpected allies among working-class white women devoted to a local tradition of citizen caregiving and seasoned by decades of activism and community service.

#books
#nonfiction
#America
#Appalachia
#SocialJustice
#poverty
#women

Appalachians Against Uranium + the Case of the Ulm 5

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2026/07/26/appalachians-against-uranium-the-ulm-5/

Hype for the Future 235P: Zanesville, Ohio

https://novatopflex.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/hype-for-the-future-235p-zanesville-ohio/

Hype for the Future 235H: Monroe County, Ohio

https://novatopflex.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/hype-for-the-future-235h-monroe-county-ohio/

Happy Birthday to the Person Who Lived It All With Me- My Brother, Charles Allen Miracle

https://lauraleacupp.wordpress.com/2026/05/29/happy-birthday-to-the-person-who-lived-it-all-with-me-my-brother-charles-allen-miracle/

Hype for the Future 77L: The Switzerland of Ohio

https://novatopflex.wordpress.com/2026/01/16/hype-for-the-future-77l-the-switzerland-of-ohio/

#Wikipedia - Origin of the concept of a #SacrificeZone

"According to the United Nations Human Rights Council [#UNHRC], the term Sacrifice zone emerged in the #ColdWar period when #NuclearTesting, conducted by #colonial powers, such as the #UnitedStates, #France, the #UnitedKingdom, and the #SovietUnion transformed sections of land into #uninhabitable and highly #radioactive areas. Sacrifice zones can be defined as communities that experience dangerous levels of hazardous contamination and waste exposure. Sacrifice zones are linked to #racism, #oppression, #patriarchy, and #colonialism, as they are hubs of #pollution that disproportionately target and harm the physical and mental health of marginalized groups who face overlapping forms of #oppressions.

According to Helen Huntington Smith, the term was first used in the U.S. discussing the long-term effects of #StripMining #coal in the American West in the 1970s. The National Academy of Sciences/National Academy of Engineering Study Committee on the Potential for Rehabilitating Lands Surface Mined for Coal in the Western United States produced a 1973 report that introduced the term, finding:

In each zone the probability of rehabilitating an area depends upon the land use objectives, the characteristics of the site, the technology available, and the skill with which this technology is applied. At the extremes, if surface mined lands are declared national sacrifice areas, all ecological zones have a high probability of being successfully rehabilitated. If, however, complete restoration is the objective, rehabilitation in each zone has no probability of success.

Similarly in 1975, Genevieve Atwood wrote in Scientific American:

Surface mining without #reclamation removes the land forever from #productive use; such land can best be classified as a #NationalSacrifice area. With successful reclamation, however, surface mining can become just one of a series of land uses that merely interrupt a current use and then return the land to an equivalent potential productivity or an even higher one.

Huntington Smith wrote in 1975, "The Panel that issued the cautious and scholarly National Academy of Sciences report unwittingly touched off a verbal bombshell" with the phrase National Sacrifice Area; "The words exploded in the Western press overnight. Seized upon by a people who felt themselves being served up as 'national sacrifices', they became a watchword and a rallying cry." The term sparked public debate, including among #environmentalists and politicians such as future Colorado governor Richard Lamm.

The term continued to be used in the context of strip mining until at least 1999: '#WestVirginia has become an environmental sacrifice zone'."

#JoeManchin #BigOil #BigCoal #StripMining #EnvironmentalRacism #CoalMining #Appalachia #PollutionSacrificeZones #CorporateColonialism

Appalachia

I discovered North Carolina born, Colorado based singer songwriter Emily Scott Robinson several years ago when her Traveling Mercies album came out. Her newest - featuring the title track here - will be released in January 2026. Her voice + lyrics take us on a timeless journey through the hearts + minds of the people we meet on the backroads across America

#emilyscottrobinson #singer #songwriter #americana #countrymusic #appalachia #folkmusic #countryfolk #newmusic #musicworld #listenup #nowplaying #randomplay #simsongs #mixtape #nowhearthis

This is about as close as we get to #Skyline out here. But I think it's a good view.

📷 #Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
🔎 Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 R

#Appalachia #SmallTown #StreetPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #ClassicMono #Monochrome #SouthernTier #WesternNY

So. Much. #Texture.

📷 Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
🔎 Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 R

#ColorADay #BWFri #MicroFourThirds #Doors #UrbanDecay #PeelingPaint #StreetPhotography #BlackAndWhite #BNW #Monochrome #WesternNY #Appalachia #SouthernTier

A moment of #calm for #ForestFriday.

📷 Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
🔎 Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 R

#Moss #Green #Brown #Trees #Forest #Appalachia #SouthernTier #WesternNY #MicroFourThirds #NaturePhotography #Mosstodon #LichenSubscribe

A bit of Cuba Lake for #FishyFriday.

📷 Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
🔎 Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R

#FromAbove #Water #Ripples #Reflections #NatureObservation #QuietWater #WesternNY #NewYorkState #SouthernTier #Appalachia #MicroFourThirds #Fishing #Fish

A thunderstorm rolled through on July 13, and I decided it was time to experiment a little. I'm happy with the results.

📷 Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
🔎 Olympus M.40-150mm
🖥️ Luminar Neo

#Thunderstorms #Stormclouds #Lightrays #Photography #BlackAndWhite #WesternNY #SouthernTier #Appalachia #Skies

@optimant @tinker ❤️ I am so glad you mentioned "just the leaves".

Someone told me that it takes 3 to 5 years to regrow from #bulb but I've only picked them from the wild in unknown forests in #Appalachia

Thank you for sustainablely growing #ramps.

@tinker

Here in #Appalachia, it's #Ramps (which are in danger of being over harvested). There is nothing finer than getting together for a big ramp and potato dinner.

Notorious US #ChemicalPlant polluting water with toxic #PFAS, lawsuit claims

Complaint says #Chemours factory dramatized in Hollywood movie #DarkWaters continues to pollute #WestVirginia river

by Tom Perkins, January 27, 2025

"The chemical giant Chemours’s notorious West Virginia PFAS plant is regularly polluting nearby water with high levels of toxic 'forever chemicals', a new lawsuit alleges.

"It represents the latest salvo in a decades-old fight over pollution from the plant, called Washington Works, which continues despite public health advocates winning significant legal battles.

The new federal complaint claims #WashingtonWorks has been spitting out levels of PFAS waste significantly higher than what a discharge permit has allowed since 2023, which is contaminating the #OhioRiver in #ParkersburgWestVirginia, a town of about 50,000 people in #Appalachia.

"The factory was the focal point of a Hollywood movie, Dark Waters. It dramatized the story of how the pollution widely sickened Parkersburg residents, and the David v Goliath legal saga in which a group of residents and attorneys took on Chemours, then part of DuPont.
The findings ‘highlight the importance of careful scrutiny of novel chemicals’, said Irene Jacz, a study co-author and Iowa State economist.

"An epidemiological study stemming from the case blew the lid off of the health risks of PFAS, and ultimately cost #DuPont about $700m.

"Though the landmark case still reverberates across the regulatory landscape, the suit started almost 25 years ago, concluded in 2016, and Chemours’s pollution continues. The new lawsuit is part of other legal actions related to the facility that have filled the gap left by weak regulatory action, local advocates say. The never-ending struggle 'wears you out', added Joe Kiger, a Parkersburg resident who was one of the original litigants in 2001.

"'We have put up with this for 24 years, and [Chemours] is still polluting, they’re still putting this stuff in the water,' Kiger said.

"The new lawsuit, filed by the #WestVirginiaRiversCoalition, alleges 'numerous violations' since the level of PFAS the company is permitted to discharge per a consent order was lowered in early 2023. Among the contaminants are #PFOA, a PFAS chemical to which virtually no level of exposure in drinking water is safe, the #EnvironmentalProtectionAgency (#EPA) has found. It also includes #GenX, a compound for which the EPA has similarly found very low exposure levels can cause health problems.

"The EPA ordered Chemours to take corrective action, but the company has done nothing in response, and the agency has not taken further action, the suit states. The complaint does not mention drinking water, which is largely filtered. But the suit alleges the ongoing pollution prevents residents from using the river for recreation.

"In a statement, Chemours said the 'concerns are being addressed' through the consent order. It also noted it was renewing discharge permits with the state, and was working with regulators 'to navigate both the consent order and the permit renewal process'.

"'Chemours recognizes the Coalition as a community stakeholder and invites the Coalition to engage directly with the Washington Works team,' a spokesperson wrote.

"The EPA and West Virginia Rivers Coalition declined to comment because litigation is ongoing.

"Kiger and others who have taken on Chemours and DuPont railed against the company, accusing it of 'greed' and putting profits above residents’ health. Some in Parkersburg refer to the waste as the 'Devil's Piss'.

"'They do what they can to make money,' said Harry Deitzler, a West Virginia attorney who helped lead past lawsuits.

"'The officers in the corporation sometimes don’t care about what’s right and wrong – they need to make money for shareholders and the lawsuits make everyone play by the same rules.'

"Still, most residents are not aware of the ongoing pollution, those who spoke with the Guardian say. Chemours is a large employer that still wields power locally, and spends heavily on charitable giving. Many remain supportive of the company, regardless of the pollution, Kiger said.

"'That’s the kind of stuff you’re up against,' he added. 'People put a blind trust in them. It could be snowing out and Chemours would tell everyone it’s 80F [27C] and sunny, and everyone will grab their tan lotion.'

"The saga began in the late 1990s when the plant’s pollution was suspected of sickening nearby livestock, and an investigation by attorneys revealed the alarming levels at which PFAS was being discharged into the water and environment.

"A class action lawsuit yielded about $70m in damages for area residents in 2004, but the litigation did not prove DuPont’s PFAS pollution was behind a rash of #cancer, #KidneyDisease, stubbornly high cholesterol and other widespread health problems in the region.

"Instead of dividing the settlement up among tens of thousands of residents, which would have only provided each with several hundred dollars, the money went toward developing an epidemiological study with independent scientists to verify that widespread local health issues were caused by DuPont’s pollution.

"The move was a gamble that ultimately paid off – the study of about 70,000 people showed by 2012 that PFOA probably caused some forms of cancer, #ThyroidDisease, persistently #HighCholesterol, pregnancy-induced #hypertension and #autoimmune problems.

"Subsequent studies have shown links between the chemical and a host of other serious health problems – #BirthDefects, #neurotoxicity, kidney disease and #LiverDisease – that residents in the area suffered.

"DuPont and Chemours in 2017 settled for $671m in costs for about 3,500 injury suits, and have paid more to install water-filtration systems throughout the region. Separately, Chemours in 2023 settled with the state of #Ohio for $110m for pollution largely from Washington Works.

"The EPA and state regulatory agencies have at times been staffed with former DuPont managers or industry allies, and litigation has been the only way to get any meaningful movement, said Rob Bilott, the attorney who led the original class-action suit.

'"It’s infuriating,' Bilott said. 'It took decades of making DuPont documents and internal data public, and getting the story out through movies, news articles, books and public engagement, and that’s what finally pushed the needle here. This is the impact of citizens forcing it through decades of litigation.'

"The latest lawsuit is a citizen’s suit under the #CleanWaterAct. Such suits give citizens the power to ask a judge to enforce federal law when a polluter is violating it and regulators fail to act.

"The lawsuit asks a judge to order the company to pay $66,000 for each day it has been in violation, which is stipulated in the permit. That would total around $50m, but the main goal is to stop the pollution.

"The EPA has acknowledged Chemours is violating the law, but has 'taken no further enforcement action regarding Chemours’s violations as of the date of this complaint', the suit reads."

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/27/chemours-pfas-pollution-lawsuit

Archived:
https://archive.ph/p3wA6
#Environment #PFASPollution #PollutionRunoff #WaterIsLife #DevilsPiss

Benjamin Tod, Matt Heckler and Jeff Loops published an Appalachia relief album on #bandcamp https://benjamintod.bandcamp.com/album/appalachia-flood-relief-session

Today no commission will be withheld from the donations.
Proceedings will go to the Community Housing Coalition in Marshall, NC where thousands were affected by hurricane Helene.

#BandcampFriday #charity #appalachia #music #BenjaminTod #MattHeckler #JeffLoops #LostDogStreetBand #relief #helene

The uncanny tales of the Not-Deer

Last summer, I began reading through my bound editions of early Fortean Times magazine, starting with issue #1. It’s the only way to see these, which are long out of print (as are these bound volumes). It was tough to get this collection, but my intent was to see what stories surfaced long ago (starting in November 1973) and how they were presented.

The text is tough to read with old typed print and the pages bound so close to the edge. But, pushing through the eye strain, I found some interesting items, as I expected.

Good ol’ Jerome Clark came through with some zingers in Issue 8. My current knowledge of pop cryptids provided a way to frame this contribution. A cryptid made internet-famous in the past few years on TikTok was apparently around back in 1971 – before all of these TikTokkers were born – and then fell out of popular knowledge for a while.

An Appalachian critter called a “not-deer” (or “Not-a-Deer”) is said to mostly look like a deer until you REALLY look and find that it’s not. The creature displays unsettling characteristics that scare the heck out of people today. They have odd features, or make robotic movements or unnatural sounds, and often are said to exhibit predator-like qualities. Modern stories of “not-deer” frequently include reports of them walking on their hind legs – an atypical sight that is particularly unnerving to see, apparently.

Clark describes two encounters with strange deer he collected when he was Editor for Fate magazine around 1971. First, he discovered an account from Mrs. Laub of Calumet, Oklahoma who saw a creature in her farm field that superficially resembled a deer that “stood on four thin deer-like legs, with huge pads for feet”, had long hair, pointed ears and a bushy tail, that resembled “a cross between a wolf and deer.” This supposedly occurred in 1951.

Later in 1971, before Mrs. Laub’s account appeared in the magazine, Clark’s father told him of a weird animal he had encountered along a road in Canby, Minnesota that looked like a small deer but with a horse-like tail. He shot at the animal to scare it but, astoundingly, it didn’t react.

Neither of the animals were afraid of humans. Upon reflection, the witnesses said they were not like any other deer they’d ever seen. My interest perked right up at these tales that precede the “not-deer” concept by decades.

Some non-sourced web pages, videos, and podcasts claim the idea of a supernatural deer is rooted in the legends of forest spirits of North America, Europe and Asia. I suggest, dear reader, that you not get your information from unsourced content creators who are looking for clicks. Deer, however, have logged a long, varied, and almost entirely benign, association with the supernatural and magical concepts worldwide. The “not-deer” stories have an uncanny tinge of danger and evil.

Current encounters with “not-deer” are at least somewhat attributable to wildlife diseases that are rampant in whitetail deer populations, resulting in their distressing appearance and bizarre behaviors.

Unfortunately, the stories also fit very neatly into the popularity of “strange Appalachia” – the promoted concept that the forests of the mountainous eastern US are enchanted, haunted, and dangerous. As often seen with cryptids, descriptions morph and merge with other creatures through time. Thanks to creative license, we now have the wendigo modernly depicted with antlers, and a strong popular interest (and belief) in skinwalkers and shape-shifters, feeding into the myth of the “not deer.”

I suppose the lesson here is that where ever there are people (and social media), we will have our monsters, even ones based on timid and graceful herbivores.

More:

Have a listen to Kate Shaw’s Strange Animals Podcast episode on “Not-Deer” from Halloween 2023.

Chronic Wasting Disease: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

“Bullwinkle deer”: National Deer Association

#1 #Appalachia #cryptid #deer #notDeer #notDeer

https://sharonahill.com/?p=8685

https://youtu.be/xsddxI0TZuc?si=1khXR8au1Fiqjqbf
If you want to know why #OliverAnthony went viral listen to this woman.
#BarbaraKingsolver, #Appalachia, #EzraKlein