The Scars on Our Mountains
Posted by Kat on 03 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Coal, Mountaintop Removal, Virginia, students
Thanks to the constant updates via my Twitter feed, this week I discovered NASA’s Earth Observatory website. This website shows satellite images of the Earth — many tragic (arctic sea ice), some providing glimpses of hope (burn recovery in Yellowstone) and some simply bizarre (the growth of Dubai.) Perusing the images and attempting to interpret the changes from image to image was intriguing until the time lapse of mountaintop removal stopped me completely. I no longer marveled at the ability to capture such images, I was sickened at what we are doing to our mountains in Appalachia. I’ve seen mountaintop removal sites in person, but these images clearly show the scale and the permanence of the destruction.
According to the website:
“Below the densely forested slopes of southern West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains is a layer cake of thin coal seams. To uncover this coal profitably, mining companies engineer large—sometimes very large—surface mines. This time-series of images of a surface mine in Boone County, West Virginia, illustrates why this controversial mining method is also called “mountaintop removal.”
I wanted to share some of the images, though watching the time lapse video on the website is even more compelling.
1984
1988
1995
1998
2004
2009
As you can see, despite claims that the mountains are reclaimed, the scars that mountain top removal leaves on landscape is visible decades later. The first of those mines are older than I am. My whole life the mountains have tried to recover. We cannot let this practice continue. This year, the Virginia General Assembly took the first important step to ending this destructive practice with Senator Ticer’s introduction of the Stream Saver Bill. Congress is considering similar legislation, as is the General Assembly in Kentucky.
Next week I’ll be at Week in Washington, an annual lobby week calling for the end of mountaintop removal. The following week I’ll join hundreds of youth from across Virginia and the nation in Wise County, Virginia for Mountain Justice Spring Break. These mountains have been trying to recover my whole life. It’s time I spend some of my time to help them.
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2 Comments »
on 03 Mar 2010 at 5:44 pm 1.Scars on Our Mountains « It’s Getting Hot In Here said …
[...] Scars on Our Mountains Published by katmceachern, March 3rd, 2010 global warming 0 Comments Cross posted from CCAN’s blog. [...]
on 04 Mar 2010 at 8:19 pm 2.Dave Haffner said …
Kat, People may want to know they can sign up for daily or weekly newsletters on the EO home page. You’re spot on: the NASA Earth imaging data and astronaut photography provide important information on global conditions and global change. I’m really glad you picked this up. I work for NASA Goddard, for the contractor that produces the Earth Observatory (EO) website actually, and I’ve felt for a long time these data don’t get enough exposure beyond the scientists who use them for research. Thanks for posting and increasing exposure. I’ll do some more of the same on my end.