by Jeff Turner

Recently I was elected by the people of Buncombe County to the position of Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor. Many of you voted for change; many of you voted out of frustration. You've seen your constitutional rights slowly whittled away, your property rights diminished, tax dollars wasted on all the wrong projects, and now you're being told that developers—and the money behind them—are needed for continued economic growth for our area.

It is a vicious cycle, civilization's continued growth through the means of consuming every available piece of land. We know what happens next: your everyday life, your peace of mind, your neighborhood transformed by loud trucks early in the morning; backhoes, bulldozers, dump trucks polluting your breathing air with diesel fumes; the beautiful pine forest and laurel thickets replaced by a giant clear-cut swath straight up the side of the mountain. Yes, you know what's coming: two to five years of dust and construction debris flying through your yard; the stream behind your house a raging river of mud; the birds gone; the road by your full of potholes; your house with two broken windows from the rock blasting. Yes sir, progress sure has its bad side.

More... Download complete article (pdf)

Original article in Mountain Xpress...