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I wish everyone a belated Happy New Year! I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and warm. In East Tennessee, 2024 has come roaring through like a mad badger, bringing with it a snowstorm I hadn’t experienced since I was a child. My mind hearkens to winters in the holler. We were essentially trapped for weeks at a time back in the beautiful dark places, where mountains hide the sun so that it barely glints across the valley, let alone the backroads burdened with ice under snow under ice under snow.Continue Reading

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We’re nearing the end of the year and the holiday/ winter season is just around the corner. The chilled air carries a magical, fresh scent; holiday bells jingle our benevolent ears; families and friends gather for grand meals or just plain old togetherness. This season affords us the chance to hear our family stories, our histories, our proud moments, and some we might like to sweep under the rug.Continue Reading

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. . . Climate change, by the very nature of the problem, is global in scale. Global change is the most complex issue facing humanity as a species – not as a system of government, not as a national debate, but as a threat to the future of organized humanContinue Reading

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The loss of wild spaces happens slowly. An acre here, a hectare of deforestation there, is hardly noticeable day by day. As decades roll on, however, the loss of wilderness is vivid. Further, the global implications of this loss, as evident from the climate irregularities of this 21st century, areContinue Reading

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In reflection, over the past two decades, the global human population has witnessed three novel coronaviruses emerge and cause outbreaks with considerable health consternation. Further, all outbreaks (likely) have a zoonotic origin, or, diseases that spread from animals to humans. The question begs to be asked: Why? III. Scientists whoContinue Reading

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I. An August shower pours through the forest. Rainwater still drips from rattling leaves as a glowing mist shines fair in the morning light. The sun is just again peeking through the leafy boughs. Beaming rays illuminate the water-quenched dance of the soft, green canopy. Droplets bead and splash toContinue Reading