May 19, 2022When We Return to the EarthOver spring break, I drove to Clayton, GA, to visit the Tallulah Gorge State Park. For five dollars in parking fees, you can descend into the valley, passing hemlocks, pines, and skeletal deciduous trees sheathed in ivy to stand in the shadow of the Tallulah Falls Dam. The state of…Essay5 min readEssay5 min read
Apr 4, 2022This Week Outside: Tree HuggerWelcome to This Week Outside, a weekly round-up of environmental and climate news. This week, we’ll be discussing flowers, spacemen, and poop. The past couple weeks felt like a blur to me. Part of that might be my allergies, but also my campus buzzed all week in anticipation of last…Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Mar 27, 2022This Week Outside: Smokestacks in the Carolina Blue SkyAfter a two-week hiatus, I’m back with another entry in this compendium of things that happened outside. This article will be short and sweet because all my classes collectively decided to enter warp speed this past week.Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Mar 7, 2022This Week Outside: Side Effects May Include a Weakened Geopolitical ResponseThank you for reading This Week Outside, a weekly climate and environmental news round-up. On today’s agenda: We’ll look at how dependence on foreign oil undercuts the United State’s ability to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We’ll check in on an ongoing saga centered on EPA officials who…Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
Feb 28, 2022This Week Outside: Don’t Feed the DeerPhoto by Scott Carroll on Unsplash Hi. My name is Zack Turner. I’m starting a new weekly series, This Week Outside, which features a round-up of climate and environmental news from the past week. Since this is the first entry in the series, let me tell you a little about…Environment6 min readEnvironment6 min read
Jun 6, 2021The Future of the Longleaf Pine SavannaA team of researchers from the Koerner Biodiversity Lab at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is studying how increasing drought conditions could impact the longleaf pine (LLP) ecosystem. The lab, run by Dr. Sally Koerner, has set up 30 plots to test drought and nutrient enrichment conditions. Their…Education5 min readEducation5 min read
Feb 24, 2021Parent and CheerleaderEdited by Allie Long For many parents, enrolling their child in an extracurricular activity seems like a no-brainer. Organized sports can teach discipline, foster self-confidence, and even improve a child’s relationship with their family. Or for the more musically minded, taking lessons boasts cognitive dividends beyond simply improving their ability…Parenting7 min readParenting7 min read
Jul 24, 2020When Bad Satire Becomes RealityThis treatise begins with a quest. Like many desperate writers in the age of creative entrepreneurship, I was scouring Facebook groups for a place to plug one of my articles. Through my digital travels, I subscribed to a myriad of pages, joined groups, shared my story, then promptly forgot about…BlackLivesMatter8 min readBlackLivesMatter8 min read
Jul 20, 2020Chapel Hill Gymnastics’ “Well of Positivity” During the Coronavirus PandemicEdited by Allie Long This article is based on interviews I conducted with two members of Chapel Hill Gymnastics’ staff, Vahid Moavenzadeh and Hunter Brake. Due to the pandemic, many of us have been hunkered down in our homes for over three months now. If you’ve been living with roommates…Interview13 min readInterview13 min read
Jul 15, 2020A Sustainable Solution to Veteran HomelessnessEdited by Allie Long This article is based on a series of interviews I conducted with Drew Robertson and the Mattersville team. They were kind enough to provide me with their time and trust me with the retelling of their story, which I will share with you now. “Do you…Sustainability18 min readSustainability18 min read
