Strange as This Weather Has Been

I just finished reading this engrossing novel by Ann Pancake, about a West Virginia family's experience as the world around them gets blown and washed away by mountaintop removal mining. I thought the book did a wonderful job of humanizing what people in this region are facing as Big Coal seeks to reap big profits and externalize the costs of their actions in incredible, devastating ways.

The first time I heard much about this was in a speech given by Robert Kennedy, Jr. when he came to address the Sacred Activism Conference held in Lynnwood, Washington a little over two years ago. He talked about how this practice was causing incredible devastation that was little known or understood by people outside the area, because the corporate media has by and large failed to inform the public about it.

I read more recently about how activists who went to Appalachia to help residents protest this practice, by which the whole tops of mountains are blasted off and the toxic runoff clogs streams and destroys whole ecosystems. The article talked about a man who had held out from selling his land, and how his animals had been killed and he himself was getting death threats. These activists had gone there to help, and they talked about how the police just stood by while the protesters were being threatened with bodily harm. Scary stuff.

Anyhow, the book was well worth reading; the real story is devastating.

There are a number of organizations working hard on this issue--here are links to a few of them:

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Stop Mountaintop Removal
Mountain Justice Summer

Ann Pancake also has a blog with more information about the book and the issue:

Ann Pancake's Blog