The Canary Coalition was a left-of-center environmentalist organization based in Sylva, North Carolina that was active from 1999 through 2020. ¹

Background

The Canary Coalition was founded in 1999 by environmental activists, including Thomas Rain Crowe and Avram Friedman, who was at the time the chairman of the Tuckasegee chapter of the Western North Carolina Alliance. Later in 2001, the organization was established as a tax-exempt charitable organization based in Sylva, North Carolina. ^{2 1 3}

History

Initially, the Canary Coalition opposed coal-fired power plants and joined the North Carolina Clean Air Coalition, jointly developing a white paper supporting policies that would later be included in the 2002 North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act. Later, the organization turned its focus to advocacy and lobbying efforts to pressure the state of North Carolina to not adopt the less restrictive regulatory standards of the federal Clean Air Act introduced during the George W. Bush administration. ¹

During the mid-2010s, however, the organization shifted its focus from more visible environmental issues, such as haze, to climate change, including support for the “North Carolina Green New Deal,” a legislative proposal to adopt on the state level many of the regulatory standards of the federal Green New Deal bill supported by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), as well as the Efficient and Affordable Energy Rates Bill, which, if passed, would restructure energy bills in North Carolina such that consumers using less energy would pay less per watt-hour than users using more energy. ¹

In addition to its environmentalist advocacy, the Canary Coalition was also involved in other left-of-center advocacy campaigns related to election-related speech, civil rights, and health care. ⁴

Dissolution

According to reporting from Smoky Mountain News, following the retirement of the Canary Coalition’s co-founder and executive director Avram Friedman, the organization initially hoped to continue its work, but because of organizing limitations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of a major donor, the organization’s board opted instead to dissolve, because, according to co-chair Lauren Baxley, it could not envision “a clear way” to continue its work. ¹

Leadership

Avram Friedman co-founded the Canary Coalition in 1999 and worked as its executive director until shortly before the organization’s dissolution in 2020. Previously, he worked as a plumbing contractor specializing in solar hot water systems, was the chairman of the Tuckasegee chapter of the Western North Carolina Alliance, ran several unsuccessful campaigns as a Democrat to serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives, and was twice arrested in 2009 during his involvement with environmentalist protests in front of the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion and Duke Energy’s Headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. ^{5 6 7}

Thomas Rain Crowe is a co-founder of the Canary Coalition and was a member of its board at the time of its dissolution in 2020. Additionally, he is a founding member of the Southern Nature Writers Group in Athens, Georgia, and is an active organizational member of Artists and Musicians United for a Safe Environment, the Project to Protect Native American Sacred Sites in the Southern Appalachians, the Western North Carolina Alliance, and United Neighbors of Tuckasegee. Previously, he was a board member of organizations including the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and the Environmental Leadership Council of Western North Carolina. ³

Lauren Baxley was a co-chair of the Canary Coalition at the time of its dissolution in 2020 and is a co-owner of Baxley’s Chocolates in downtown Sylva, North Carolina, as well as a founding member of the Western North Carolina chapter of Indivisible CommonGround. ³

John Moore was the vice chair of the Canary Coalition at the time of its dissolution in 2020, and is a member of the Henderson County Branch of the NAACP. ³

Olga Lampkin was the secretary of the Canary Coalition at the time of its dissolution in 2020 and is a paralegal with the Law Office of Russel R. Bowling in Franklin, North Carolina. ^{8 3}

Autumn Woodward was a co-chair of the Canary Coalition at the time of its dissolution in 2020 and is a founding member of Western North Carolina Frack Free. ³

1. Kays, Holly. “‘Part of history’: Canary Coalition dissolves after 20 years.” Smoky Mountain News. July 22, 2020. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/29518-part-of-history-canary-coalition-dissolves-after-20-years
2. “Canary Coalition Inc.” ProPublica. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/912089609
3. ARCHIVED: “Governing Board.” Canary Coalition. Archived February 22, 2020. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20200222120208/http://canarycoalition.org/about-us/governing-board/
4. ARCHIVED: “A message from Thomas Rain Crowe.” Canary Coalition. Archived February 2020. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20200222194640/http://canarycoalition.org/about-us/history/
5. Morris, Giles. “Friedman aims to take ‘green’ thinking to Raleigh.” Smoky Mountain News. April 7, 2010. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/885-friedman-aims-to-take-%E2%80%98green%E2%80%99-thinking-to-raleigh
6. “Citizen Engagement for a Healthier Community with Avram Friedman.” Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville, PLLC. October 11, 2017. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://www.integrativeasheville.org/citizen-engagement-healthier-community-avram-friedman/
7. ARCHIVED: “Governing Board.” Canary Coalition. Archived October 25, 2019. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20191025001319/http://canarycoalition.org/about-us/governing-board/
8. “Our Staff.” The Law office of Russel R. Bowling. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://russellbowling.com/our-firm/staff/