Esther Cunningham launched my scholarly journey into Appalachian environmental history from her Blue Ridge living room. She spoke and I listened as we sat among family photos and handmade afghans that recorded some of her life’s work, while, through the window, a view over grassy fields to distant wooded ridges hinted at the parts that I aimed to record. Cunningham’s reputation as an environmental-defense powerhouse had drawn me, a tenderfoot graduate oral historian, to her doorstep. She had co-founded one of the region’s most effective grassroots environmental organizations and played a pivotal role in nearly all of its successes, and she had launched women leading parallel endeavors. Few people had done more than Esther Cunningham to protect the Blue Ridge and its native forests, which she likened to cathedrals. I wanted to know how she had done it. Having seen my own beloved native forests destroyed in the “bulldozer revolution,” I came looking for hope. Esther Cunningham gave it to me, in a form I eventually called “commons environmentalism.” As environmental crises daily make headlines, her example has a great deal to teach. I think of it as an Appalachian understory, easily overlooked, yet vital and complex.11

中文翻译：

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地下环境史：向阿巴拉契亚公域学习

Esther Cunningham从她的Blue Ridge客厅开始了我对阿巴拉契亚环境历史的学术之旅。她讲话，当我们坐在家庭照片和手工制作的阿富汗人中间时，我听了下来，记录了她一生的一些工作，而透过窗户，我可以看到草地上遥远的树木繁茂的山脊的景色，这暗示了我想要记录的部分。坎宁安（Cunningham）作为环境保护强国的声誉吸引了我，一位温柔的研究生口腔历史学家，走到她家门口。她与人共同创立了该地区最有效的基层环保组织之一，在几乎所有的成功中都发挥了举足轻重的作用，并且发起了由女性领导的平行工作。在保护蓝岭及其原生森林方面，几乎没有人比埃丝特·坎宁安（Esther Cunningham）做得更多，她将其比作大教堂。我想知道她是如何做到的。看到自己心爱的原生森林在“推土机革命”中被摧毁之后，我开始寻找希望。埃斯特·坎宁安（Esther Cunningham）以我最终称之为“普通环保主义”的形式给了我。随着每天的环境危机成为头条新闻，她的榜样值得一提。我认为它是阿巴拉契亚的底层结构，很容易被忽略，但至关重要且复杂。11