As stewards of America’s natural resources, rural communities are often on the front lines of both environmental disasters and innovations. You can keep up with the latest environmental news from across rural America here.
Q&A: Where’s the Water Gone? On Learning to Forget, with Lucas Bessire
Bessire writes about how landscapes are depleted through an intentional memory loss that allows environmentally destructive patterns to repeat themselves.
More stories about the environment
New Toolkit Offers Tips On Emergency Response And Preparation For Rural Communities
Compiled in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies, the information is meant to help rural areas better prepare for public health emergencies, disasters and threats.
New Map Reveals Consequences of Flooding Near Tar Creek Superfund Site In Oklahoma
The new tool might help the community avoid health hazards and develop mitigation strategies to save their town.
Trees Bring Hope, Healing, and a Look to the Future for Western Kentucky Tornado Victims
A tree grower joins forces with a local organization to replant some of the tress lost in Kentucky during tornadoes of late 2021.
Reports Look At Climate Resiliency In Rural Communities
Two new reports from the Center for American Progress examine how rural communities can access federal grant funding to build climate resiliency.
‘Till the Last Drop: As Water Grows Scarce in Utah, Urban and Rural Needs Come to a Head
A new water pipeline project wants to siphon off billions of gallons of groundwater from a rural county in Utah to meet the needs of Cedar City. But farmers and local Tribes see the project as an existential threat.
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Proliferating Wildfires Poison Public Health Across the Country
“We are living through a natural experiment right now — we’ve never had fires this frequently.” – Healthcare community rings the alarm about dramatic negative health effects of fire smoke recorded all around the country.
Forestry Leaders Scramble to Turn Massive New Funding Into Trees
Billions of dollars to reforest millions of acres, plant trees in underserved communities, and restore landscapes burned by wildfire will require a significant investment in human resources to accomplish the task.
Q&A: The Long Road to Recovery
Rebuilding after a natural disaster is a long and difficult process under the best of conditions. For rural communities that are already facing tough economic and social conditions, the work can be even harder and the results less certain.
International Movement to Clean Up Chemical Weapons Counts on Small-Town Leadership
The last remaining stockpile of chemical weapons in the United States will soon be gone, destroyed using a process that the military and local residents agreed was safer than originally proposed. Tireless advocacy made the change possible.
Recycling Plastic Into Unique and Useful Creations
Companies in rural communities around the globe are turning plastic waste into reusable materials.
To Ensure Access to Electric Cars, Some Activists Are Calling Attention to ‘Charging Deserts’
“If we don’t get in now, we’re going to be behind — and we’ll never catch up.”
Glacier’s Red Buses Offer History and Sustainability
The National Park’s iconic mode of transportation is a hit with tourists, carrying on average 60,000 people each summer.
West Virginia, Kentucky Officials Repeatedly Ignored Plans to Prepare for Catastrophic Floods. Residents Are Paying the Price
Armed with detailed plans on how to protect from the floods and mitigate the resulting damage, both states failed to implement them.
The Electric Vehicle Boom Could Bring Lithium Mines Back to North Carolina
Not all locals are happy about it.
Wildfire Maps Underscore Risks — and Costs — of Climate Change
A controversy and the ultimate recall of fire hazard maps for Oregon proved the importance of an extended comment period and the need for feedback from populations in question.
Four Hooves Beat Four Wheels for Some Early Flood Relief Teams
In the hours and days following Eastern Kentucky’s July 28 flood, a horseman’s group was among the many people and organizations that volunteered to deliver supplies to families cut off by the destruction.
Tree Thieves: Examining Crime and Identity in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest
In her first book, writer Lyndsie Bourgon examines the history and social complexities that drive timber poaching in old growth forests.
How Can Mangroves Help Turn the Tide Against Climate Change?
Home to rich ecosystems, these coastal forests are also a superior carbon storing species.
An Education Interrupted: Eastern Kentucky Schools and Students Face a Long Road to Recovery after the Floods
Young people need predictability, safety, and security – just the things the flood washed away. School districts grapple with complex logistical issues while trying to tend to the needs of families and pupils.
Small-Scale Forest Landowners Gain Foothold in U.S. Carbon Markets
New efforts seek to give smallholders alternatives to logging while helping to curb climate change.
Research: Rural Climate Change Opinions Are More Complicated Than You Might Think
A study showed that Indiana’s rural populations skepticism of climate change is complex. Some of it can be associated with a sense of being ignored and blamed for climate change woes.
Commentary: (Distant) Neighbor Helping Neighbor
When La Grange, Texas, needed help recovering from the floods of Hurricane Harvey, national groups stepped up to lend local people a hand. Now those Texans are paying it forward by sending money to help the people of Eastern Kentucky.
Will Salmon Finally Win This Year?
This could be the year that four Snake River dams in the Northwest get dynamited to allow salmon a hope of surviving.
Commentary: Things the Flood Takes
Last month’s flash flood in Eastern Kentucky killed 39 people, including Dennis Stacy. Those who survived will never be the same.
Commentary: TVA Owes Eastern Kentucky Reparations for Strip Mining’s Role in Flooding
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s appetite for cheap coal flattened the mountaintops of Eastern Kentucky. It decimated one region in the name of helping another.
As the President Visits Kentucky After Flooding, Residents Send a Message of Resilience and Frustration
Kentuckians affected by the recent flooding want Biden to know they are strong and determined to rebuild. But they also want the federal government to know what they really need in terms of disaster relief.
Experts: Climate Change Will Affect Health of Farm Workers
Rural populations may find these dangers more deadly, as access to healthcare and the nature of hard, physical labor add to the severity of climate-related ailments.
First Person: Before the Flood, Breaking Beans at Hindman
After the flood waters of Troublesome Creek damaged buildings, automobiles, and 120 years of history, Hindman Settlement School now faces the dual task of preserving its legacy while addressing the current needs of a hard-hit community.
Commentary: The Vanishing Paradise of the West’s ‘Ditches’
In the arid West, thousands of small canals, universally called ditches, create ribbons of green life as they deliver diverted river water throughout the region. But as the climate becomes drier, ditches are disappearing, and the loss can be deeply felt.
Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief and Recovery – How You Can Help
Historic floods have swept through parts of Eastern Kentucky, leveling communities and leaving at least 38 dead, with that number likely to rise. Here’s how you can help.
Commentary: A ‘Second Disaster’ Caused by Good Will
People naturally want to help others who are in need, and that’s a good thing. To avoid creating more strain for already hard-hit communities, it’s best to give cash. Here’s why, plus a list of ways to contribute to recovery in Eastern Kentucky.
Westerners Struggle to Manage Booming Wild Horse Populations
With hundreds of thousands of wild horses venturing onto private, state or tribally owned lands, there is a sense of urgency to address wild horse populations that got out of control.
Parts of Oregon with Serious Threat of Wildfire Will Face New Building Codes
A 2021 state law will require some properties in the “wildland-urban interface” to take additional measures to protect new construction from wildfires. A new assessment says wildfire poses a serious risk to over half the state.
Mud and Mutual Aid: The Early Days of Recovery from Eastern Kentucky Floods
With 38 deaths and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed, Eastern Kentuckians face a daunting task to recover. While larger efforts get organized, neighbors are helping neighbors. But it’s going to take more, says the publisher of the Daily Yonder.
As Temperatures Rise, Farms Are Sprouting in Alaska
Even as farms decline across the US, a longer growing season is bringing food security to a state that has long relied on sustenance from afar.
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