Appalachian Energy and Livelihoods: September 2006 at Highlander Research and Education Center
"...at the present there is nothing, literally nothing, that is held sacred by the proponents of so-called development."
Wendell Berry in The Way of Ignorance (2005)
Why are we loosing "main street" businesses? Why are manufacturing jobs being replaced by low wage "service economy" jobs? With a global financial crisis and mountains of debt, energy costs surely to increase again, the ongoing destruction of Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining, and the onset of peak oil, how should we be envisioning livelihoods, energy security, and community? Our Appalachian regional roundtable was one of a series nationwide seeking to envision the just and sustainable alternative, and to chart some concrete steps toward it. This was the beginning of our energy and livelihoods work that eventually led to our AIRE initiative.