IN THE PRESS

By Sarah Birnbaum  New research shows that failing infrastructure causes significant contamination of drinking water in many Eastern Kentucky water systems.  One kind of contamination is disinfection byproducts, which result from the mixing of organic matter and chlorine-based disinfectants during the water sanitation process. Improper maintenance of infrastructure is the main culprit for these violations,…

“Climate change is the existential crisis of our time, and it’s clear that our current system is failing those who most need—and deserve—federal assistance after a national disaster. The good news is that there are affordable ways of reversing that damage and building a more equitable system. We call on policymakers and elected officials to…

by Sana Aslam Ricki Draper (past LiKEN Community Engagement Coordinator) and Mary Cromer (Deputy Director of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center) published an Appalachian Citizens Law Center (ACLC) report (September 2019) examining water affordability and the impact of rate increases in eastern Kentucky’s Martin County.  County residents have been organizing around water quality and demanding accountability from…

Cover jacket for 2019 book, edited by Devon Mihesuah and Elizabeth Hoover, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health. Article originally featured on FoodAnthropology https://foodanthro.com/2021/01/19/hunger-religion-and-public-anthropology/ article by Betsy Taylor Is feeding the hungry, a key moral value in religious teachings across cultures? I was recently asked this…

By Nicole Musgrave Published December 23, 2020 at 9:04 AM EST When you hear the word “gingerbread,” you might think Christmas. But in southeast Kentucky, when people of a certain age hear “gingerbread,” they think Election Day. In a special report as part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Project, Nicole Musgrave, traces the surprising history of gingerbread…

We’ve spoken with over 100 thought leaders across all industries and sectors to understand the most impactful strategies for combating climate change. Here are our findings. Climate change is, put simply, one of the greatest challenges our modern society has ever faced. And it needs to be addressed now. After many years of shining a…

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“Imagining a More Just World”: Interview with Julie Maldonado 29 July 2020 It is difficult to canonize anthropology and anthropological concepts, in part because of the creative tensions within the discipline’s contradictions: a desire and deep respect for local knowledge with a global, comparative perspective, what might be called the “anthropological imagination.” Firmly rooted in—and…

5 Organizations Working To Improve Lives In Appalachia Edited by Gregg Parker on 10 July 2020 The Appalachian region is filled with rich culture and natural beauty, but it’s also plagued by enduring economic hardship due to decades of capitalist exploitation. The organizations here all work to support its diverse communities, providing services and other…

Climate Change Policy: Bigger Picture Policies Under the banner of a just transition, we’ve seen some great work to develop things like the RECLAIM Act and include in that the value of community participation in planning for the use of public revenues from the Abandoned Mine Land funds. While imperfectly implemented so far, that was…

Princeton Alumni News: Karen Rignall ’92 *94: Understanding Appalachia Through Storytelling High school students in Rignall’s Stories of Place project visited a coal-impoundment lake and found that a family cemetery had been established on its banks about 150 years ago. When most Americans think of the coal region of eastern Kentucky, they think of poverty…

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Customers of a Kentucky water district notorious for reports of poor water quality and frequent outages are at risk of another major rate hike, potentially making “the worst water district … in the state of Kentucky,” as one official put it, one of the most expensive. VIEW FULL ARTICLE

As Madison County and the two cities move toward closing the pilot plant at the Blue Grass Army Depot, there is a heightened concern about what to do at the end of the day with all the workers, infrastructure and future of the site after demilitarization is no longer in 2023. “I just wanted to…

June 2, 2019 Bill Bryant interviews Craig Williams about the neutralization of deadly nerve agents and chemical weapons stored at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Madison County. CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO