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[title_1]
N.C.'s ‘big 15’ counties show urban heft in a changing state
   August 16, 2011
Angelique Gaines
Ferrel Guillory

Over the past four decades, North Carolina has grown from a state of 5.08 million to 9.54 million people.  Along with that near-doubling in population has come a decisive shift in the state’s societal landscape. Once a spread-out state of small farms, small factories and small cities and towns, it is increasingly defined and driven by a metropolitan economy and culture. A robust “...

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Finding ways to link farmers with city customers
   August 10, 2011

Christy Shi

I’ve spent many hours in the last few years working on behalf of Charlotte-area farms and farmers, trying to help build and nurture a community-based food system and experimenting with new ways to distribute food from local farms to customers.  But this summer my focus shifted from farmers in the fields to customers in the city.

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[title_1]
Much to admire in plan, but it missed an opportunity
   July 27, 2011
Mary Newsom

Just for fun, before watching Monday night’s Charlotte City Council hearing on the newest plan for downtown Charlotte, I hauled out my yellowing copy of the 1966 Odell Plan. (See original drawings from the plan here.) 

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Science, in your own backyard
   July 27, 2011

Dana Powell

Have you wondered whether bees in our area are suffering from colony collapse disorder?  Do you know what fly fishing’s aquatic insects can tell us about water quality? Entomologists (insect scientists) are no longer the only people watching bugs. Like many branches of natural science, entomology has reached out to citizen scientists for help in understanding the world around us.

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[title_1]
Failure of nerve: Bolder vision needed for an uncertain future
   July 27, 2011

Charlotte’s draft 2020 Vision Plan is a disappointing document. Despite the hard work, the glossy graphics are mostly pretty pictures of conventional thinking rather than visions for a different future.

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[title_1]
The Sandhills' peachy heritage
   July 21, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom
A peach display in the grocery store might mention where the fruit was grown. Too often, that means Georgia or California. At a farm stand in the Sandhills, the peaches come from an orchard right here on the edge of the Uwharries. Growers even note the specific variety. Read more
[title_1]
Mecklenburg County Community Food Assessment 2010, Phase 2
   July 19, 2011

Elizabeth Racine & Qingfang Wang

In 2010, a UNC Charlotte research team led by Dr. Elizabeth Racine conducted a Mecklenburg County Community Food Assessment for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Food Policy Council.  The results of Phase 1 of that study (posted on this website in September...

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[title_1]
Gaston, onetime manufacturing heavyweight, now lags Union
   July 19, 2011

Local perceptions may not have caught up with the new reality in the Charlotte region’s manufacturing economy. Even before the recession began in 2007, declines in the textile and furniture industries were changing the structure of local employment. Read more
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A new game of 'frogger'
   July 14, 2011
Crystal Cockman
After a natural heritage field biologist heard the low, song-like call of a frog never before documented in this part of North Carolina, we decided to see if we could capture one to confirm the finding. So one evening, after a rain, we made our way through waist-high stinging nettle and the silty mud of the South Yadkin River, to a floodplain pool to wait ... Read more
[title_1]
The Founding Gardeners
   July 5, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom
In 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were in London to negotiate a trade deal and follow up on unfulfilled terms of the peace treaty reached at the end of the Revolutionary War. When talks bogged down, they took a break to visit the English countryside. Read more