Swoope Hope Photos 2019
I take a lot of photos. These are the few that are either really good photos or have lots of meaning—the best photos of 2019. All photos by R. Whitescarver and copyrighted except as noted. The Really Good Swoope Hope Photos
Environmental Justice and a Burning Bridge Across the Potomac
Shepherdstown, WV: It used to be part of Virginia before our war against slavery. I’m here, standing on the southern bank of the Potomac River looking at the large windows and columns of the mansion of Ferry Hill Plantation on the northern, Maryland side of the river. I’m mesmerized, staring...
Environmental Racism and Dominion Energy
Environmental Racism: Actions and decisions that result in the disproportionate exposure of people of color to environmental hazards and environmental health burdens. A textbook example of environmental racism has unfolded in Union Hill, Virginia. When Dominion Energy was looking for a site for its Buckingham compressor station the Federal Energy Regulatory...
Osage Orange From Meriwether Lewis Planted in Swoope
The Osage Orange tree is native west of the Mississippi and is named after the Osage Indian tribe. The fruits look like little green brains and are about the size of an orange. People use the fruits to repel insects in their homes, but there is no scientific evidence to...
Uplifted Standing In Line at SCOTUS (JMU 2026)
It was an event of a lifetime—sitting in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) hearing arguments in the U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River case on Monday, February 24—the case that will determine if a dirt path, known as the Appalachian Trail, is actually “land” or not.
Environmental Racism and Dominion Energy (JMU 2023)
A textbook example of environmental racism has unfolded in Union Hill, Virginia. When Dominion Energy was looking for a site for its Buckingham compressor station the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board (APCB) chose the predominately African American community of Union Hill—a community of descendants of freed African slaves.
Pipeline Fighters Defeat Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (JMU 2026)
Celebrate the victory—the defeat of Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a 600-mile, high-pressure, fracked-gas pipeline planned to rip through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. It was a six-year fight for people’s land rights, our water, environmental justice, and common decency.
Endangered Species, Please “Save All the Parts”
Note: The text version of this post was published in the News-Leader and distributed by the USA Today Network on 8/15/19. Dominion and Duke Energy lost yet another federal permit to build the ill-conceived Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). For the second time, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated...
Ash Trees—a Celebration and a Lament (JMU 2023)
Ash trees are disappearing from the American landscape. All three of the aforementioned ash tree species are critically endangered because of the nonnative Emerald Ash Borer.
Endangered Species, Please “Save All the Parts” (JMU 2023)
A bumblebee, a bat, a mussel, and a half-inch, blind crustacean are in the proposed path of the 42-inch, fracked-gas pipeline. All four species are on the brink of extinction—the death of the last individual of the species.
