Commentary

  • Birds Tell Us 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.

  • Lessons from Dorian: Oil, Water Still Don’t Mix

    Guest columnist Jean-Luc Duvall of Environment North Carolina writes that the oil pollution resulting from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas could also happen to the N.C. coast if offshore drilling is allowed here.

  • Strategies for Weathering the Next Storm

    As many N.C. residents continue to deal with Hurricane Florence’s effects a year after the storm’s landfall here, Will McDow of the Environmental Defense Fund offers four steps toward a more resilient future.

  • Fish to Eat? License Fee May Be Waived

    For those who fish for food and receive certain government assistance, a subsistence waiver can save the annual $15 recreational fishing license fee, but few who qualify may be aware.

  • Coastal Lands Melting Away Into the Sound

    In today’s guest commentary, Matt Paulson, Dare County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, writes that important steps can be taken to lessen the effects of climate change here where it matters most.

  • On Flood Control, The Dutch Are Masters

    The storm surge barrier near Rotterdam, Netherlands, a feat of engineering, is but one example of what coastal North Carolina can learn from the Dutch about flood prevention.

  • The Quaker Map: From Harlowe to Mill Creek

    North Carolina historian David Cecelski uses a map he found recently and other sources to explore the history of a largely forgotten group of Quaker settlements that flourished on the North Carolina coast more than 200 years ago.

  • More Manatees In NC Waters Signal Recovery

    The uptick in manatee sightings in N.C. waters in recent years may be a sign of successful efforts to help their populations recover, and there are things you can also do to help.

  • The Wreck of the Nomis

    Historian David Cecelski writes about the motor schooner Nomis that went aground the summer of 1935 on Ocracoke Island’s outer shoals and the successful rescue of the six crewmen by the U.S. Coast Guard.

  • Our Military, Wind Farms Can Coexist

    Guest columnist Katharine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition writes that a bill recently introduced in North Carolina is an attack on wind energy that does nothing to protect military bases.