Wide Branches, Deep Roots
How Appalachian Wisdom Can Help in the Fight for a Sustainable Future
To be Appalachian is to define oneself in terms of a place. Where we’re from plays a tremendous role in who we are, through storytelling about our homeplaces and the people who have loved them. However, what goes largely unaddressed is how this love of place can contribute to sustainability within the region, which has notoriously faced on-going environmental threats from extraction industries. The reality is that our relationship with the environment is thorny and intertwined with our identities, histories, and economic realities. The authors in the collection get down among the thorns to explore what sustainability means in Appalachia and how we can utilize the power of traditional folkways to achieve it.
This collection of over thirty pieces explores the connections between Appalachia’s stories, traditions, and modern events and the pathway to regional sustainability. The contributors — writers and scholars — examine how our definitions of sustainability have been formed, the power of education to encourage or inhibit it, and what moves are being made toward efficacy in the future. They also offer specific actions readers can take to better understand and build sustainability where they live.
Contributors: Greg Bealer, Luc Biscan-White, David Blackmore, Aysha Bodenhamer, Ivy Brashear, Matthew Calloway, Nicole Drewitz-Crockett, Christina Fisanick, Deborah Fleming, Amanda V. Garner, Karie Gunter-Seymour, Richard Hague, Amanda E. Hayes, Lockie Hunter, Jessica M. Jones, Kristen LeFevers, Sarah Long, Meghan Moore-Hubbard, Barbara Marie Minney, Jessica Radicic, Elizabeth Emmerth Rexroad, Barbara Sabol, Larry Smith, Patrice Stank, Taylor Nasim Stone, Paul Thomas, Elizabeth Tussey, and Betsy Weems.
Land Acknowledgment
Preface – Jessica M. Jones
Acknowledgments
Introduction – Amanda E. Hayes
I. Roots and Brambles: The Nature of Appalachian Sustainability
Aunt Bett’s Beans – Ivy Brashear
The Walker Sisters: Preservation, Human Spectacle, and Land Use in Southern Appalachia – Nicole Drewitz-Crockett
Camp Elizabeth–Who I Am, Where I’m From – Liz EmmerthRexroad
Dark Ecology and the Monstrous Mother in Old Gods of Appalachia – Paul Thomas
Misadventures with Backyard Chickens: Lessons on Heritage and Homesteading – Lockie Hunter
A Man Around the House: Lessons in Dumpster Diving and Sustainability – Lockie Hunter
Falling Rock Area – Deborah Fleming
II. Seeds and Saplings: Education for Sustainability
Homecoming: Love Notes on Sustainability for Appalachia – Sarah Powell
Haunted in Place: Folktale Pedagogy – Taylor Nasim Stone
The Witches They Could Not Burn: Writing as Resistance in Appalachia – Sarah Long
Teaching with the Mountains: Reflections on Place and Identity in Science Education – Amanda Garner
Loyalty and Truth: Navigating Environmental Justice Conversations as a Coal Miner’s Daughter - Kristen LeFevers
Embodied Practices: Sustaining Students from Appalachia after Hurricane Helene – Elizabeth Weems
III. Branches and Boughs: Reaching Toward Sustainability
Foul and Fertile Ground: The Legacy Pollution of Coal Extraction and its Implications on a Sustainable Appalachian Future – Aysha Bodenhamer and Luc Biscan-White
Sustaining Appalachian Mobilities: Connecting Rail Trails with Local Histories in Western North Carolina – Matthew Calloway
An Abolitionist Future for Appalachia – Meghan Moore-Hubbard
Fractured Lives, Resistant Roots: A Braided Essay Across Three Voices – Jessica Radicic
Residues and Regeneration in Northern Appalachia – David Blackmore
Walking the Homeplace – Jessica Jones
IV. Growing a Forest: Taking Action
Practice Everyday Wisdom—Appalachia Style - Larry Smith
Grow Porch Potatoes - Amanda Hayes
Find Your Wild Place - Sarah Long
Map Your Appalachian Soft Skills - Sarah Powell
Rewild your Yard - Jessica Jones
Read Roadside Markers - Matthew Calloway
Help Incarcerated Folks - Meghan Moore Hubbard
Investigate Sustainability Practices in Appalachia - Kristen LeFevers
Hunt For Your Ancestral Stories - Elizabeth Tussey
Be a Creek Keeper - Richard Hague
Support Gender Identity - Barbara Marie Minney
Cultivate an Eco-friendly Household - Patrice Stank
Take Part in Mutual Aid - Christina Fisanick
Walk a Haiku Path to Advocacy - Barbara Sabol
Dance with The Ones That Came Before - Greg Bealer
Be Our Best Selves - Kari Gunter-Seymour
Support Sustainable Efforts Across the Region - Amanda Hayes and Jessica Jones
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
“Wide Branches, Deep Roots is a joy to anyone who has known the truth all along—that sustainability and environmental stewardship in the Appalachian region is not just a passing fad, but an inherited practice since the region’s inception. Its impact will extend beyond the classroom to local historians, community organizers, and environmental activists who will find in it a mirror for their lived experiences accompanied with strong models of sustainable, place-based advocacy.”
—Marti Wagnon, assistant professor of English in the School of Writing, Language, and Literature at Radford University
