The irony though is that in terms of population demographics, people are moving primarily south and west - in terms of economic growth, those are the places to be.

How do those two factors tie?

Not technically "southern", but Texas is the national leader in installing wind energy.

Andrew Eisenberg
The gateway project is wrong---http://www.livableregion.ca

In Eastern Kentucky back when it took 20 times the manpower it does today to mine the same amount of coal they frowned on diversification down here. When Ford wanted to control all the elements of production including the steel he owned mines down here. Some talk was done early on for a Ford plant, not cars, some peripheral process related to auto production. Nothing ever materialized and no other industry was ever promoted in order to keep a ready half starved work force available for the coal mines. They were mostly drift shaft mines and even with early mechanization it took more men than it does to blow the top off a mountain and shove the debris into a valley. The coal corporations are responsible for most of the poverty in Appalachia when you are talking the coal producing area's. It may be said it was the early coal corporations or the North East Interest that come in here at the turn of the last century and stole the mineral. John Mayo's broad form dead created the situaion under law where the coal company's have the right to blow up your mountains and shove the valley's full of overburden. If they own the coal under your land, they got the right by law to come in and get it. It is a little better than the early 1900's when they owned the company houses and you had to trade at a company store with company script, "Coal Company Printed Money". The seeds for our continued poverty was sewn by the coal company's early on. Now that we do not need 1/20th of the personnel to mine coal since we strip mostly we have thousands on some kind of relief and draw government checks. That should have been easy enough to determine would be the case when you developed an industry that was labor intensive and would not allow any competition to that industry in the area in order to keep a ready available labor force. Then you go to a means of production that does not require even half the work force that was required before. We got a little help when President Johnson declared his war on poverty and great things were done as far as the schools and the ARC. I guess he got sidetracked by the Vietnam war, guns or butter, it gets you everytime.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

"Where are the environmental groups in the South?"

this kind of question ticks me off. if y'all would spend a little time on the dang internet you might just be surprised at how many groups are working on a plethora of issues across the South.

y'all need to look a little closer - there are environmental groups, social justice groups, etc...

all over the South!

interested in poverty issues - look at the organizers and attendees of last year's U.S. Social Forum - organized by Project South out of Atlanta and a bunch of others.

mountaintop removal piss you off?

ALL OF THE GROUPS TAKING THE LEAD ON THIS ISSUE ARE SOUTHERN BORN AND BRED.

google the following:

Coal River Mountain Watch
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (in WV)
Mountain Justice Summer.org (with links to most ot the rest of the anti-mtr crowd listed here)
Katuah Earth First!
United Mountain Defense
Dave Cooper's Mountaintop Removal Roadshow
Save Our Cumberland Mountains
Appalachian Voices
ilovemountains.org
Appalshop.org
Christians for the Mountains
(there is also a new religious group here in Knoxville working on strip mining. i think their acronym is LEAF but i'm not sure)

energy issues:

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Southeast Energy Network
there are also anti-nuke groups in NC and GA
the one in GA came up with "No Nukes Y'all" as a slogan - which i thought was brilliant.

Also, next weekend, students in Valdosta, GA are hostin the 4th or 5th annual Southeastern Students for Renewable Energy Conference. This conference has consistantly drawn hundreds of student activists from across the south. There are student activists at every major University (and even a bunch of smaller ones in the South) - UT Knoxville, Berea College in KY, Warren Wilson in Asheville, Appalachian State in Boone, NC, Universtiy of Georgia at Athens, UNC Chapel Hill and many more.

water:

Tennessee Clean Water Network
in addition there is the Chattahootchie Riverkeeper and a bunch of other river and creekkeepers.

Forests and biodiversity:
Wild South (Public Lands issues)
Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project
Western North Carolina Alliance
Heartwood (mostley midwest, but allied with Southern groups as well)
Dogwood Alliance (tackling over cutting of forests for wasteful pulp and paper production and publically supported by the rock band REM)
Appalachian Voices
Southern Forests Network
Southwings
Wild Alabama
Cherokee Forest Voices
There even was a forest protection group in Mississippi a few years ago but i'm not sure what happened to them.

environmental racism
I can't remember the groups names but their used to be groups active in New Orleans around cancer alley, Memphis, Chattanooga and Atlanta. I'm sure some of 'em are still active.

climate
one of the US chapters of Rising Tide North America is in Asheville, NC.

There is also a Jobs with Justice campaign in TN and i'm sure other states as well.

There are also anti-war groups across the south many of which are hosting marches and rallies this March on the anniversery of the war.

There are also groups promoting sustainable agriculture and sustainable living across the south. Asheville, Knoxville and Chattanooga all boast the beginnings of a thriving local food scene that have locally oriented farmers markets and with Chatt and Knox both being homes to urban organic farming projects.

There are groups tackling almost every conceivable issue across the South.

The centers of southern progressiveness include
Asheville, NC and the area around Chapel Hill, NC.
Atlanta, Birmingham (AL), Chattanooga, Knoxville, Boone (NC) all have progressive scenes. some of 'em are small but they are there.

heck, you go visit Asheville and you might think you're in friggin' Eugene or Berkeley with all dang piercings, dreds, multi-colored hair cuts, organic produce, and more do-gooder groups than you can shake a stick at.

heck, even South Carolina has a progressive network - SCPronet if i remember correctly.

for independent media look up the Asheville Global Report and some of the remaining Indymedia.org sites in the south. Appalachian Voices publishes an excellent newspaper called Appalachian Voice which is distributed all over Appalachia. in east TN there is the Hellbender Press. Most of the groups listed have newsletters as well.

Don't see something you want to get involved in? by golly move here and fire it up.

seein' that we are overrun with corrupt politicians and a bunch of morons who think the planet is only 6000 yrs old and made for our overconsumption we could use all the help we can get.

This is only a small sample of who is active in the South. I used to know more but since i'm a radical on sabbatical so I can earn a stupid piece of paper from an institution of higher learning to certify that I know what i'm talking about regarding forests, I am no longer as connected as I was once to what is going on.

But, you can't say there is nothing going on here. There are all these awesome groups doing awesome work in communities that make any places outside of the South look like friggin' progressive Utopias.

Texas is southern. They were in the dang confederacy and most of 'em have a distinct twang in their speech. I hate it for you if you ever tell a Texan they're not Southern. I don't care for that state and the politicians it produces but there is lots goin' on there. Didn't some Texans just whip a coal burners butt?

Yes, but guess what -- those people in the South are richer in another way...one in which the elite libs of Seattle and SF are not.

They have sunshine.   They have warmth.

They live in the future climate of globally warmed America and so inherently, they need less to survive.

The other side of the poverty coin is: they can live there.   With low end house prices at $270,000 in the Puget Sound, a poor person can't afford to be here.  Add in heat and electricity and it's impossible.   The smug inhabitants of these "high tech" areas are dependent on technological life support to make their lives possible.

Restore the Kuomintang!

They have sunshine.   They have warmth.

They live in the future climate of globally warmed America and so inherently, they need less to survive.

We also have massive droughts and increasing water shortages.

Sorry about that, rapid fire on to many blogs, got to slow down and make it legible. I know by now I am preaching to the choir, just making sure I get the word out on this blog before I move on.

On the original point, tree huggers below the mason/dixon line. Kentucky should count, I know I am not one of the white wine and cheese types but you need somebody down here in the mud also. I am working with some groups that are down here now, Sierra Club to mention one.

For the original post, we are not exactly the backwater of environmental protection but we are starting to wake up.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

I almost forgot, the green tea makes me hyper, the other herb you are talking about is Kentucky's second largest cash crop. You are right if I could get everybody using some of this herb they would not care where their electricity come from.

Lot easier on the environment to grow it also, you may have hit upon something here.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

Thanks for setting the record straight.