Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls: From Climbing Big Mountains to Confronting Climate Emergency


NOTE: Kitty Calhoun, the author of this op-ed, is an old friend, rock climbing partner, and fellow Outward Bound rock climbing instructor who went on to become an acclaimed alpinist thanks to her drive, focus, ability to endure, and especially for her minimalist approach to big mountains. Now, decades later, she’s climbing a much bigger


Tom Philpott’s “Perilous Bounty” Tonight


Our favorite critical food politics voice, and Maverick Farmer, Tom Philpott will be discussing his new book tonight at 7.30 pm Eastern. Go to https://facebook.com/BloomsburyUSA/ to join the live conversation. In our view, food and energy have much in common in terms of sustainability, sovereignty, and actions we organize in our communities. For example, the


Burton Street Community Peace Gardens Solar Phase 1 Has Been Installed


The solar installation was completed on Monday, August 10th. Now we await only Duke Energy to connect the system to the grid. The advocacy community uses the term “slow walking” to describe how long that may take. Only Duke knows, but hopefully soon. The garden is producing healthy food, ideas, healing vibes, and is ready


What is solar for? AIRE’s new plan for cooperative, sustainable communities solar


This guiding question borrows from the title of a collection of essays, “WHAT ARE people FOR” by agrarian writer, Wendell Berry. It is provocative because it calls our values into question and challenges assumptions. Our conversations and activities at AIRE have recently asked a similar question out of the same vein– What is solar for?


A note to contributors and friends: Burton Street Community Peace Gardens solar project installation in July!


• We now have all of the system components on hand (e.g. solar panels, inverters, racking, etc.). • Required filings have been completed at North Carolina Utilities Commission. • System interconnection request has been filed with Duke Energy Progress. • Installation is scheduled to be July 27th, maybe sooner. Looking back at the crowdfunding campaign


Burton Street Community Peace Gardens ‘Make the Road Solar’ on Blue Ridge Public Radio


Blue Ridge Public Radio’s Cass Herrington, interviewed Burton Street’s DeWayne Barton for a piece aired on June 30th. Always quotable, the following excerpt from the interview illustrates why Barton is such an inspiring leader and visionary, and why nearly 300 unique individuals came together to crowdfund the solar project that will be installed in the


Historical memory, hands-on learning, solar powered resilience: Burton Street Community Peace Gardens Solar


WILLIAM “SHORTY” IRBY and a monument meant to endure… Because the crowdfund campaign for the solar project has been so successful, it’s allowing the gardens to leap right into its Phase 2 solar vision, which is equipping the garden’s hands-on lab with equipment to train for solar. This is very significant and here’s the story.


Looting and Language: Seeing Right-Side Up Through the Smoke of Burning Cities


Everyone by now has seen commentary on the “looting” that has taken place amidst the smoke in Minneapolis and other cities. It’s true that lots of looting occurs in the United States. The problem is that the word “looting” is being used dog whistle style, mostly by politicians and others to deflect attention away from