The world stopped for Down East communities Sunday when a private plane with eight passengers, six from Carteret County, went down after a duck hunting trip in Hyde County.
Guest Columns
Oyster awareness: Shellfish benefit environment, economy
Guest commentary: North Carolina’s collaborative shellfish strategy includes public education efforts showcasing how oysters can be a catalyst for a resilient future, where people and ecosystems thrive.
Toxic exposure issue at military bases warrants action now
Jonathan Sharp, CFO with Environmental Litigation Group, P.C., writes that more needs to be done to address the health effects military veterans and their families have suffered as a result of exposure to toxic compounds during their service and time on installations such as Camp Lejeune.
Simple messages: North Carolina Coastal Federation at 40
Guest columnist John Runkle, one of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s founding board members, writes that the nearly 40-year-old nonprofit’s mission has been guided by clear messaging, namely, “No wetlands, no seafood.”
Leadership, action needed to reduce plastic pollution
“Our coast is quite literally our lifeline. And it is being increasingly sabotaged by plastic. So why aren’t our businesses and policy-makers doing something about it? ” writes Oceana’s Randy Sturgill.
Guest commentary: Where plastic flows into the ocean
Kemp Burdette of Cape Fear River Watch and Ann Colley of the Moore Charitable Foundation write that there’s an overlooked connection in our own backyards that funnels plastics toward major bodies of water and eventually the world’s oceans.
Commentary: Does the Corps adequately protect the coast?
Dr. Richard Hilderman of Sunset Beach, where the Corps of Engineers has recently approved permits for a terminal groin, contends that responsibility for protecting the coastal environment has been placed in the hands of engineers, rather than natural resource agencies and coastal scientists.
Hatteras Village relies on commercial fishing, a safe inlet
Alana Harrison, Hatteras Village seafood market owner and fish dealer, worries that shoaling in Hatteras Inlet will cause local commercial fishermen to relocate to neighboring fishing ports.
NC Has Much to Gain from Wind Power
Guest commentary: North Carolina has too much to gain from wind industry to let disinformation from Texas grid failure go uncorrected.
Million-Acre Land Protection Goal Finally Met
Former Gov. James Hunt’s 20-year-old goal of protecting from development 1 million acres in North Carolina by 2010 was finally achieved late last year.
Temporary Rules Needed to Protect Wetlands
Guest column: The Environmental Management Commission should enact temporary rules restoring the Department of Environmental Quality’s authority to regulate activities in wetlands that no longer require federal permits.
Frank Nesmith: ‘Kindred Spirit,’ Coastal Hero
Guest columnist Lauren Kolodij shares her perspective on the life and coastal preservation mission of Frank Nesmith, “the Mayor of Bird Island,” who died in July at 93.
Dorian Remains Part of Life on Ocracoke
Hurricane Dorian, which struck the North Carolina coast a year ago this weekend, was a game-changer for Ocracoke Island, creating a new normal.
Value Fisheries, Communities Who Provide
Guest columnist Timothy P. Clark writes that in order to promote sustainable seafood, coastal North Carolina needs to promote local purveyors and that the social consequences of fishery decline are drastic.
Second Wave of COVID-19 May Be Deadlier
Guest columnist Richard Hilderman, former chair of Clemson’s Genetics and Biochemistry Department and Genomic Institute director, warns of a second wave of COVID-19 infections from a rush to restart the economy.
Birds Tell Us That It’s Time to Act
Guest columnist Robbie Fearn, director of Audubon’s Donal C. O’Brien Jr. Sanctuary at Pine Island, writes that birds along the N.C. coast serve as harbingers of the effects of climate change.
