The Canary Coalition
"A Grassroots Clean Air Movement"

Governing Board Members

Please send media requests, completed petitions,
tax-deductable donations and memberships to:
P.O. Box 653, Sylva, North Carolina, 28779
or call us toll free at (866) 4-CANARY
We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
All donations and memberships are tax deductible. Thank you!

Thomas Rain Crowe
Author, Poet, Activist Tuckaseegee, NC

Jean

Larson
Community Activist Leicester, NC

Jonathan Bentley

Registered Nurse, Activist

Whittier, NC

Claudine Cremer
Business woman, 

community organizer, Activist Weaverville, NC

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Management researcher, writer, editor

Cullowhee, NC

Dr. Lydia Aydlett

Professor of psychology

Sylva, NC 

Mahaley Odell Thompson
Architect,

Cullowhee, NC

2011 Report
by Avram Friedman, Executive Director

Canary Staff

Call us toll free at
(866) 4-CANARY
(828) 631-3447

Executive Director:
Avram Friedman
view resume

Website Design:
Jason Kimenker

"Determined to Bring Clean Air Back to our Region"
Canary Copyright © 2000-2003
All rights reserved.

We are very much like the canaries used in coal mines to determine when the air reaches unsafe levels. Canary Copyright © 2000 Click here to send us an e-mail with any questions or comments.

Help Fight Pollution in The Great Smokies! The Canary Coalition is your family, friends and neighbors getting together to do something about the poor quality of the air we've been breathing in western North Carolina and the southern Appalachian region. If you're like most western North Carolinians you love the mountains, its people and culture.  You consider this region your home.  A good place to live, work and play.  A wonderful area to raise children, live a fruitful life and perhaps retire some day. But you're also becoming increasingly alarmed by the frequent air quality alerts you're hearing about on the news.  It's hard to swallow the fact that what was once a precious commodity, our clean mountain air, is now being compared to the air over Los Angeles.   Visibility has diminished in the Great Smokies from 60 miles to an average of 15 miles.   Health concerns to trees, animals and humans are real and increasing.

The Canary Coalition will coordinate public events that will both educate public officials and focus national attention on the air quality problems we're experiencing in the Smoky Mountain region. The Canary Coalition will work with similar groups in other parts of the country to combine our strength and influence on the federal level.

By becoming a sponsor of The Canary Coalition you will be taking an effective action to make the mountains a healthier place to live and breath for your family, your neighbors and yourself.

The Canary Coalition Advisory Board Members

Dr. James Biddle, M.D.
Specialist in Miercury Poisoning
Asheville, NC

Jay Denton
Former Chairman of
the Jackson County Board
of Commissioners
Sylva, NC

Arthur Dougherty
Owner of Solar Guys
Horseshoe, NC

Robert Eidus
Native wild plant specialist
Walnut, NC

Dr. Emily Diznoff

Family Practice

Ron Lugbill
Attorney at Law
Bryson City, NC

Bill Lyons

Economist

Frank Padgett
Minister
Cullowhee Methodist Church
Cullowhee, NC

Leni Sitnick
Former Mayor of Asheville
Asheville, NC

Harold Strader
Retired Methodist Minister
Franklin, NC