Erin worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer in Kentucky for almost two years. She is now a Seattle-based freelance writer specializing in education, environment, cultural issues, and travel, informed by her time teaching English in Malaysia and other travels.
West Virginia Cattle Farmers Build the Local Food Economy They Need to Thrive
Local food is nothing new in Appalachia…but the tradition of self-sufficiency has nearly died out
October 8, 2014
How a Fruit and Vegetable Auction in Rural Ohio Helps Appalachian Farmers Thrive
What Rapposelli refers to as "real food" is becoming more of an "everyday thing" in Morgan County, according to auction regular Mary VanHorn.
January 15, 2014
Mountain Grown: Appalachia’s New Local Food Economy
Restaurants like Knife and Fork didn’t use to exist in places like Spruce Pine, a town of just 2,200 people nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.
August 22, 2013
Building a Solar Economy: 4 Lessons from Hawaii
Hawaii generates more of its power from the sun than any other state. Here’s what the rest of us can learn from the obstacles that came up along the way and and what’s being done to overcome them.
April 10, 2013
What’s cheaper than solar, slashes carbon emissions, and creates jobs in Kentucky?
Jamie Blair had owned his own business for about seven years when he started to think it was missing a crucial piece. He was installing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in and around Paintsville, Ky., but heated air isn’t much good if it leaks out through poorly sealed doors or underinsulated attics. That was right around the time he discovered How$martKY, a collaborative program designed to encourage better energy efficiency in Kentucky homes.
February 8, 2013