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Cry for the Mountains |
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Posted 9/18/2009 at 9:21 AM by Carolyn D |
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I was watching the video that Josh posted recently with a number of environmental activists expressing their grief and anger at environmental destruction. While their actions seemed rather... futile, it really got me thinking about how very real that sense of loss is for many people. Some of the most impassioned activists I have met have been people whose communities and lives are affected every day by environmental degradation.
Last spring I was fortunate enough to meet Dave Cooper, a leader of Mountain Justice which is an organization that fights against the use of mountaintop removal mining techniques in Appalachia. Dave has quit his job and spends most of his time traveling the country with this Mountaintop Removal Roadshow, a presentation that highlights this enormously destructive type of coal mining.
Just in case you don't know, mountaintop removal is a technique that allows coal companies to extract coal from the insides of mountains more quickly, efficiently, and with less labor. Sounds great, right? Wrong. The way they achieve that efficiency is by literally flattening the mountain. First they cut all the trees downs (effectively clear cutting the most biodiverse forests in North America). Then they use hundreds of tons of explosives to blow off the top of the mountain so they can get to the coal. What do they do with all of the rock and debris (the remains of the mountain)? They dump it in the valley. Here's a photo: 
What are the environmental affects of all of this exploding and dumping and mountain reshuffling? Not good. The filling of valleys destroys streams, completely disrupting the watershed and producing flooding in nearby communities. The waste of the coal processing, coal sludge, (aka the slime left over when you rinse coal) is collected in giant reserves, held up by dams which occasionally break, sending toxic waste flying down the mountain and into the water system. The destruction of the the oldest forests on the continent has now covered an area the size of Delaware. (More info here.)
The most appalling aspect of mountaintop removal, however, is the way that is affects the communities of Appalachia. People's homes are being destroyed by flooding. Residents are being sickened by the toxic chemicals in their water. Children are killed by loose boulders rolling down the mountain and into their bedrooms. The mountains, which are the backbone of these communities, are being flattened. It is important to mention that poverty plays a driving role in this problem. Appalachia has some of the highest rates of people living bellow the poverty rate in America and it really makes me wonder: would this kind of abuse be tolerated in more affluent communities? The conflict between those who stand up to the coal companies and those who depend on the coal industry for their job is tearing some of these communities apart. The good news is that there are tons of people out there doing amazing work. Mountain Justice and ilovemountains.orgare two great resources for more information on mountaintop removal and what people are doing about it. Here's a video of Ashley Judd at a recent protest:
I guess the reason Josh's post made me think of this is that the more I learn about mountaintop removal, the more I want to sit in a forest and cry and yell too. The enormity of the problem seems overwhelming and the stakes are astronomically high. The larger issues is this: when you confront a problem, whether it be defending a mountain from a greedy corporation, or working to end violence in your community, do you sit in the forest and cry? Or do you leave the forest, gather some friends, and do something about it? I guess those crying hippies should take some advice from His Holiness who said, "It is up to each of us to make the best us of our time to help create a happier world". |
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