JOEY ALOI

Associate Professor, Agroforestry & Director of Assessment

Email

joey.aloi@future.edu

Biography

Joey Aloi is an Associate Professor at Future Generations, where he leads the agroforestry team in the Community Engagement division. In this capacity, he coordinates the producer coaching & enterprise development work in Appalachia. His work in agroforestry builds on years of work in Appalachian foodways, especially local-food-system building, food access, and food sovereignty. In his capacity as faculty, Joey currently teaches, serves as the Director of Assessment, is a member of Deans Council, and is the University’s IRB Chair. His doctorate is in Philosophy from the University of North Texas, the premier program for Environmental Philosophy, where his dissertation was on hermeneutics and environmental aesthetics. His published academic works touch on environmental ethics, economic transition, philosophy of technology, environmental justice, agrarianism, and the role of the forest in Appalachian foodways.

Academic Publications

  • 2025: “We’ve Found Something Good Here:  Dietic Discourse & Environmental Engagement” (co-written with Charles B. Hayes). A Special Issue of Environmental Ethics entitled A Constructive Environmentalism: Around Steven Vogel’s Critical Theory of World-Making. Volume 46, Issue 4, Winter 2024.

  • 2023: “Mutual Aid in a Time of Disaster: Kropotkin and Climate Adaptation.” Kropotkin Now! Life, Freedom, Ethics. Black Rose Books, Montreal, Quebec.

  • 2023: “Perception and the Nature of Ethics: How to Learn About Place and Ethics from Literature,” Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place. University of Georgia Press.

  • 2018: “Coal Feeds My Family: Subsistence, Energy, and Industry in Central Appalachia,” Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism. Special Issue: “Energy Ethics: Emerging Perspectives in Times of Energy Transitions”

  • 2014: “Propaganda as an Environmental Justice Issue,” Interdisciplinary Environmental Review 15(2/3)

Book Reviews
Invited Talks

  • 2025, “What to do with the Woodlot? An Introduction to Non-Timber Forest Products,” WV Association of Conservation Districts Quarterly Meeting, July, 2025, Bridgeport, WV.

  • 2025, “Agrotourism in Agroforestry,” 2025 Eastern Kentucky Farmers Conference, London, KY.

  • 2025, “Discussing our Environments – Silence and Eloquent Nature: A conversation continued from the Environmental Ethicsspecial issue on Steven Vogel’s work,” a panel discussion with Steven Vogel and Charles B. Hayes. 22nd Annual Summer meeting of the International Society for Environmental Ethics; Missoula, MT.

  • 2024, “The Business of Agroforestry.” Presented at the Southern Ohio Forest Farming Conference; Rutland, OH.

  • 2024, “Why Do We Tap Trees? Maple Syrup for Community and Economic Development.” Presented at the New York State Maple Producers’ Association’s Mid-Winter Classic Conference; Syracuse, NY.

  • 2021, “From Solar to Coal: the Ethical, Social, and Aesthetic Consequences of Appalachia’s First Economic Transition.” Presented virtually to the Technology & Values Colloquium at the University of Twente; Enschede, the Netherlands.

  • 2021, “From Springs to Faucets: How Historic Transition Can Teach Us to Care for Our Water.” Presented virtually to annual meeting of the Buckhannon River Watershed Association; Buckhannon, WV.