This presentation will focus on the need to develop an attitude of understanding and reverence (a “higher love,” if you will) for the region in which we live. This will include ideas of preservation, sustainability, and re-inhabitation, as well as literary and social activism in the face of escalating climate change scenarios and occurrences.

Thomas Rain Crowe, author of more than 30 books, including Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods, has spoken widely on the subject of sustainability and protection of the planet as a resident of Western NC over the past 35 years. He lives in the “Little Canada” community of the Tuckasegee watershed of Jackson County.