NOTE: DUE TO WEBSITE CHALLENGES AFFECTING OUR REGISTRATION PROCESS, WE HAVE POSTPONED THE COURSE TWO WEEKS. The new registration due date is WED. JAN. 28, and the new dates for the course are THURS. FEB. 5 – MARCH 19.
It’s time for MountainTrue’s annual NWEI discussion course! Join us this winter for Seeing Systems: Peace, Justice & Sustainability to address the connections between three of society’s most pressing challenges, and become equipped to promote peace, justice and sustainability within our community.
Participants read each week’s material (which may include brief articles, book excerpts and/or links to online content) on their own. During each session, group members take turns facilitating by leading others through discussion questions provided in the course book.
PARTICIPANTS IN THIS SEVEN-SESSION DISCUSSION COURSE WILL:
• Be introduced to values, visions, and practical actions they can take toward a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.
• Become aware of entrenched values and assumptions that reinforce destructive practices and unhealthy systems.
We will meet every Thursday for seven weeks, Feb. 5 – March 19, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar.
Registration cost is $45 for MountainTrue members, and $60 for non-members (includes one-year MountainTrue membership!). Your books are included, and will be distributed during the first meeting.
To view the full reading list, click here.
The registration deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 28.
Please Register & Pay HERE
Plenty of tickets are still available! Get yours today online or buy them at the door. Tickets are $37.50
*Free tickets are available for volunteers, click here to sign up!
MountainTrue presents two live shows celebrating the life and adventures of John Muir, an early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. The Muir shows have also toured throughout the country to universities, parks, museums, wilderness and environmental organizations from Washington D.C. to Hawaii.
7:30 p.m., Jan. 23: The Tramp & The Roughrider 
MoutainTrue invites you to journey back to May 1903 to an evening around the campfire in Yosemite Valley with America’s best known conservationist, John Muir, and President Theodore Roosevelt. Hear them spar over environmental and wilderness issues and witness the conversation that helped lead Roosevelt to establish 200 million acres of wilderness, five new national parks, and 55 wildlife preserves during his tenure.
7:30 p.m., Jan. 27: The Spirit of John Muir
Asheville Community Theatre
This show is a fun romp through some of the very best of Muir’s grand, thrilling adventures in his beloved western wilderness. “The Perilous Night on Mount Shasta,” with Muir freezing in the midst of a howling blizzard while simultaneously being boiled and blistered in hot springs, his astonishing ride down a Yosemite Valley canyon wall on a snow avalanche, and climbing the 500′ wall of the winter ice cone beneath the Yosemite Fall, encounters with a mighty Yosemite earthquake, dangerous Alaskan ice crevasses, snow blindness, and much more – these are only a few of the amazing (and true) adventures – all liberally salted with Muir’s wilderness philosophy. This show’s theme revolves around the health and invigoration one acquires when one fully and joyfully engages wildness.
On Saturday, Dec. 13, WNCA’s Forest Keepers will plant hemlock trees with the Forest Service Southern Research Station.
Here in the mountains and and all over the east, a pest known as hemlock wooly adelgid has devastated hemlock stands. The research station recently received 800 hemlock saplings and they need our help planting them! These trees will inform ongoing research about how to defend the hemlocks against the adelgid and will be part of a major hemlock restoration effort. We have the honor to part of the solution for these beloved trees.
We will plant from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and you can choose whether you would like to plant in the morning or afternoon. You can plant all day if you want to as well! We’ll meet at 9 a.m. at the Southern Research Station (200 W.T. Weaver Boulevard, Asheville) and will be back by 5 p.m.
DuPont is an hour drive south of Asheville, so morning planters should plan to be out from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., and likewise, afternoon planters will be out from 1- 5 p.m. We’ll change shifts at lunchtime.
Please bring a shovel and work gloves if you have them. No tree planting experience necessary! You will need to bring lunch, two liters of water, hiking boots, and please dress in layers. Winter seems to have already arrived! If you have any questions, email Alexandra@WNCA.org.
Click [HERE] to register!
December is a time for gifts of all kinds to be flying off the shelves in excitement and good intention. The unfortunate reality of the season, is that the rapid flux of items out of stores is balanced by a rapid flux of items into a pile outside of our own city. It takes some conscientious thinking, but anyone can get a smarter, more creative, more unique gifter.
Join WNCA on Thursday, Dec. 11 for a tour designed for rethinking seasonal consumerism. We will get a visual of the amount of waste we create as a community at the landfill and recycling center, and finish at Common Ground Upcycle Emporium and Resource Center, where we will learn about our options in keeping our goods out of the landfill, and in creating new treasures for our friends and family. There will be a chance to shop for gifts at the end of the tour.
Please wear warm clothing, and bring water and snacks if you wish. Homemade granola bars will be provided. We will begin at 10:00AM and end around 1:00PM. This tour is FREE and ALL AGES are welcome. Registration is required at tinyurl.com/UpcycleYourHoliday. Contact: Rachel Stevens (843) 258-8737, rachel@wnca.org
Join the WNC Alliance on Sunday, Dec. 7 for a tour of a truly green Christmas tree farm, What Fir! Tree Farm.
We’ll meet at the What Fir! Tree Farm at 11 a.m., and owner Nathaniel Maram will take us on a tour of the farm and share a history of its transition to natural growing practices.
The What Fir! Tree Farm offers the option to buy a Christmas tree grown without the use of synthesized chemicals. What Fir! has not used any pesticides or herbicides for five years, and the abundance of Fraser Firs on the tree farm are evidence of the success of organic farming practices.
What Fir! is located on 50 acres outside Boone. Visiting the farm can be a great day-long event that includes choosing your own tree, taking a hayride, hiking, sledding, shopping for wreaths and other Christmas decorations, and enjoying a cup of warm cider.
Wear warm clothes and bring equipment needed for you to bring a tree home if desired!
Free! All Ages!
Carpool from Asheville: 9 a.m. Earth Fare at the Westgate Shopping Center
RSVP: tinyurl.com/WhatFir
Contact: Rachel Stevens at rachel@wnca.org or by calling (828) 258-8737, ext 215.
Join us on Nov. 15 as we tour Sierra Nevada’s new brewery, nestled in our Appalachian backyard in Mills River! The tour will be from 1-3:30 p.m. and is open to those ages 12 and up (but the tasting is open only to those age 21 and older).
The tour is free, but registration is required. Click here to register.
We’ll meet in the main lobby 15 minutes before the tour starts (12:45 p.m.).
What to Expect:
Brewhouse Tour: Navigate entire beer making process, getting an up close look at every detail. Rub some aromatic whole-cone hops in your palms, gaze into brewing vessels and stroll through the celler under the fermentation tanks.
Grand Tasting: Participate in two-ounce education tasting of eight varieties of Sierra Nevada beer while overlooking their open fermenters
Sustainability Tour: Go behind the scenes with WNCA and check out what makes Sierra Nevada a sustainable business, as they finish their mindful construction with impressive environmental efforts embedded in every step of the process.
What to Bring/Wear:
Closed-toed shoes
Personal dentification if you’d like to participate in the tasting
