Tag Archive
Sowing New Mustard Seeds: The Moral Question of Mountaintop Removal
By CHRISTOPHER MARTIN
Mountaintop removal is not primarily an “environmental issue,” but a moral one—a fact seldom acknowledged by those who support it. The powers that be would like the public to keep on believing that blowing up mountains is a perfectly acceptable way to get coal, and that folks who say otherwise are just left-leaning… »
Street party and concert set for second year to raise awareness of mountaintop removal
By BOBBI BUCHANAN
Louisville.VisitSouth.com
Louisville’s independent retailers will join Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to host a special street party and concert on Bardstown Road at Longest Avenue.
The second annual Louisville Loves Mountains Festival will be held Friday, May 21, from 4 to 10 p.m. and will feature music by Daniel Martin Moore, the… »
Holding Out Hope
FROM THE CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
I don’t want to give up. I told my sons this on a hiking trail called Honeymoon Falls at Pine Mountain State Resort Park this summer.
Parker was 9, James Tucker was 2, and they were dying to get in the pool. It was closed for chemical testing our first day. On day… »
The Last House in Mud
Photo essay by JESSICA DEIS
This summer, my family and I took a road trip to West Virginia to see the devastation of mountaintop removal mining firsthand. The journey was important to the photo documentary I’m working on to draw attention to this violent form of mining.
My husband Brian and I and our two children traveled… »
A President Breaks Hearts in Appalachia
By ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
The Washington Post
Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?
If ever an issue deserved President Obama’s promise of change, this is it. Mining syndicates are detonating 2,500 tons of explosives each day—the equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb… »
Obama walks a fine line over mining
Environmentalists feel betrayed by the EPA’s decision not to block new mountaintop mining projects
By TOM HAMBURGER and PETER WALLSTEN
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — With the election of President Obama, environmentalists had expected to see the end of the “Appalachian apocalypse,” their name for exposing coal deposits by blowing the tops off whole mountains.
But in recent… »
ESSAY
All Things Wild and Wonderful:
How a foraged mountain food connected two children
Essay and photos by KAREN DILL
In April, the wild things emerge: Bears crawl from their dens; baby wolves are born while their parents howl at the moon; and mysteriously tender green shoots climb bravely from the ground. To an unsuspecting eye, the tiny foliage may resemble weeds, but to my mountain-bred father, they were supper.
My… »
Louisville Loves Mountains Festival
From KENTUCKIANS FOR THE COMMONWEALTH
Spend a Friday evening celebrating our Kentucky mountains with a number of local musicians and Kentucky authors Silas House and Erik Reece. Food and drinks will be provided by local vendors. This event has been organized by the Jefferson County Chapter of KFTC and sponsored by Heine Bros Coffee and Carmichael’s… »
EPA to review mountaintop mining permits
By MIREYA NAVARRO
New York Times
March 25, 2009 — In a sharp reversal of Bush administration policies, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that the agency planned an aggressive review of permit requests for mountaintop coal mining, citing serious concerns about potential harm to water quality.
The administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, said her… »
Food, Love and Ms. Fannie Neal
ESSAY
By MAEGEN NEAL
As a choir of tree frogs and cicadas sang the night’s lullaby, the soft laughter of Fannie Neal’s survivors echoed off the evergreen trees and rusted junk cars. The thickness of a Kentucky summer still hung in the air, perspiring onto the blades of bluegrass and weeds that grew together in a sort of… »
