Our good friend Kristen Farquhar has released her latest Environmental Music Film (EMF). It’s on the topic of mountaintop women and mountaintop removal coal mining. Here it is, followed by the description from the YouTube page: “Appalachian women and men unite to stop mountaintop removal. The history of the divine feminine is brought to
Following up on the On Coal River movie we posted on earlier today, below is a beautiful video on the same topic — the horrors of mountaintop removal coal mining. Magnolia Mountain, of Cincinnati, is one of the most popular urban Appalachian bands around today. Mountaintop removal coal mining is one of the least popular
Coal plays a massive part in not only the economy of the United States, but also the lives of its citizens. Nearly 45% of the electricity generated in the U.S. comes from coal, which is about twice as much as natural gas and four times as much as renewable sources of energy. While many
Recenty, the good folks at iLoveMountians.org created 10 awesome maps showing the health and socioeconomic effects of coal and mountaintop removal (MTR) in key MTR and coal-burning regions. The maps are based on data from 21 recent peer-reviewed scientific studies. “Not only has mountaintop removal permanently destroyed more than 500 Appalachian mountains, but people living near
Greenpeace activists in North Carolina have climbed a Progress Energy power station in Asheville and “have secured themselves to the coal loader and conveyers, which will prevent coal from entering the facility,” Greenpeace reports. The message of the activists, being sent to Progress Energy and Duke Energy (which may merge with Progress Energy soon,
iLoveMountains.org and many Virginians are now fighting to save a Ison Rock Ridge Standing. Why would it come down? Well, have you heard of mountaintop removal coal mining? This week, “Virginians who live at the base of Ison Rock Ridge, a mountain threatened by a pending mountaintop removal permit, have been joined by hundreds from
Bank of America was once considered an environmental “leader” (at least for one thing), as it announced in 2008 that it would stop investing in companies that engage in mountaintop removal coal mining — I was surprised! Technically, they committed to “phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through
Today is “Bank Transfer Day.” There are a lot of reasons to join the 650,000 people who switched from a big corporate bank to a credit union last month, and one of them we’ve written about for years is to help stop mountaintop removal coal mining. While some banks have cut some of their involvement
Here are three good activism stories I wanted to cover in more depth this week but never found the time to:
Here are some of the top climate and environmental science stories of the week (other than what we’ve covered), starting with a funny video from The Onion on twitchy climate scientists.
Yet another reason to love mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired electricity — it causes birth defects! Yippee! In all seriousness, though, this is concerning and it is no surprise. Mountaintop removal harms the environment and people’s water supply and that (something tons of people still don’t seem to comprehend) translates into harm to human health.
Some top green activism stories form the past week or so (that we didn’t cover,.. or pieces of them we didn’t cover)….
I briefly wrote about a new documentary, The Last Mountain, which covers the insane mountaintop removal coal mining industry in January, and included a trailer of the film. Well the film just premiered in New York City and the Natural Resource Defense Council’s Eric Goldstein made it to the premiere and has shared his experience of it. I thought it was worth a share.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSP2Ju8ojUU Finally, we’re going to get a movie on mountaintop removal coal mining, especially focusing in on Massey Energy (the company that wouldn’t let its workers take off to attend the funerals of some of the miners that died in an explosion in 2010) and a particular mountain in West Virginia, it seems. The Last
Since we had plenty of news last Friday and I was heading out of town, I decided to leave our weekly roundup of global weirding and environmental news (that we didn’t already cover) to Monday. Here’s the global weirding portion. Climate: Student Reporters Take on Climate Change and Security Coincidences abound—just after posting an item
One of our faithful readers and supporters, WV Outpost, recently wrote an interesting, powerful, and moving article on some of her and her family’s experiences living in the heart of coal country. She is living in West Virginia and her and her husband have to write under false names for their own safety there. At
Mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) is very harmful to ecosystems, including to the humans living in or off of those ecosystems. In an effort to extend opposition to MTR beyond traditional circles, Earthjustice is putting a face on this topic, or many faces actually, through its new Mountain Heroes: Our Stories program. Earthjustice writes: People from
After receiving a lot of pressure from activist groups for months, PNC Bank finally gave in and joined the growing number of major banks to issue a strong position on mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining, saying that will no longer lend money to the destructive practice. “Removing sources of funding for MTR is crucial, of
Mountaintop removal is something we cover on here pretty frequently. It is the horrible process of blowing the tops off mountains to get out dirty coal to burn for electricity, which then contributes greatly to global warming, water pollution, air pollution, and other problems. Luckily, we are not the only ones concerned about this issue
Mountaintop removal coal mining is one of the most horrendous things on the planet in my mind. It decapitates precious, beautiful mountains; pollutes rivers and communities with mercury, arsenic and other harmful waste; and helps accelerate global warming (or global weirding). Luckily, people have been catching onto this. World-renowned climate scientist James Hansen and hundreds
When a leading NASA scientist is willing to go to a protest in D.C. and get arrested along with hundreds of other, normal folks, you know he is concerned about something. As I wrote on the weekend, Monday was the Appalachia Rising! Day of Action. The non-violent action must have gone well, as top climate
Mountaintop removal coal mining is bad stuff. It is destroying habitats and communities, poisoning people, and annihilating ancient mountains and national treasures. Appalachia Rising!, a national response to the unmitigated destruction of Appalachia’s mountains, air and water through mountaintop removal coal mining started today in Washington, D.C. Individuals from around the country, grassroots groups and organizations,
Continuing on with our Going Green Tips series, Going Green Tip #6 should be no surprise (we’re starting with the big boys). The general tip is to stop using coal power. Easier said than done, right? Maybe, but it is VERY important, and there are a lot of reasons why it’s easier now than ever.
Here’s our latest roundup of green living, green activism, and clean energy news. Enjoy these great stories from around the internet.
With the help of conservation groups, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining launched the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative to attempt to rescue the thousands forest acres left barren by mountaintop coal mining. [social_buttons] The volunteer-based initiative, which hopes to eventually plant 38 million trees in Appalachia, received the endorsement of the United Nations Environment Program
Just days after news leaked that Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency will designate CO2 as a pollutant, the EPA has announced that hundreds of mountaintop removal coal mining permits will be put on hold while their impact on streams and waterways is evaluated. [social_buttons] Mountaintop removal is a controversial method of extracting coal that literally blows
Two groups that oppose mountaintop removal coal mining have been told they are not welcome to hold their upcoming meetings at a former Boy Scout camp deep in the coal fields of eastern Kentucky — despite both having held events there without incident in the past. [social_buttons] Jim Scheff of Kentucky Heartwood said his group
Climate action group Rising Tide is joining forces with City Life/Vida Urbana, a housing justice organization, to announce a mass action against Bank of America. Instead of the usual sign holding and chanting (which has also been taking place), they are asking people across the country to close their bank accounts on February 14th– Valentines
Despite activists’ efforts earlier in the month to stop the Bush administration’s 11th hour changes to environmental regulations, the EPA has gone ahead with undoing some rules. Specifically, they have signed off on loosening 1983’s coal dumping regulation, which prevent dumping within 100 feet of a river. Fortunately, environmental groups are taking the ruling to
