"What happens when fossil fuels run out? How do rural communities reinvent themselves as natural resources are depleted? In the Appalachian mountains, where coal mining is projected to decline dramatically this decade, some people are looking to Wales for answers."
"Plans for a new federal prison are floating around Letcher County, Kentucky, a rural county of about 25,000 people located in the Appalachian coalfields. Prison proponents say it will turn our economy around, that it could become the new center of our “post-coal” economy. Others believe that getting a prison, while not ideal, may be the best we can get -- and we simply can’t afford to be picky. But what else is there to say?"
"I have been thinking a ton about what it looks like to live on mission in a context where it is totally normal to drive 30-40 minutes to get your weekly ration of food, also known as grocery shopping. Or where your school district is three towns together and you still only have a few hundred students in the 9-12th grades. I have been thinking about this not only because I get emails about it, but because these are the people I minister to. These are the people who weekly call my church home."
"Move over Kim Kardashian, your crown as queen of reality TV has been stolen by rednecks. And not just one redneck, but many of them. Hollywood can't get enough redneck culture. Why? Because shows about rednecks are making Hollywood a lot of money."
"Researchers have discovered a stunning new process that takes the energy from coal without burning it -- and removes virtually all of the pollution. The clean coal technique was developed by scientists at The Ohio State University, with just $5 million in funding from the federal government, and took 15 years to achieve."