Appalachian Lives Matter

It is probably obvious that I care deeply about the things I write about in this blog. I love the mountains and the people of Appalachia where I grew up, the wonderful creatures that we share this world with, and the environment in general.

            Although these things are important to me, as I sit and write about them at my computer, these topics can become a little abstract for me. I’ll blog about the mines in Appalachia, but I’m thousands of miles away from them. I don’t wake up with coal dust on my windowsill, and I don’t see the yellow sulfur stains that the mining brings to streams and rivers.

            From the fieldwork that I’ve done, testing the water quality at the estuarial waters of the San Diego River, I’ve actually seen the salinity of the water increase over the last decade, evidence of rising seas and a warming world. Despite the concrete evidence, the numbers rising over time and the graphs inching upwards, I don’t perceive the world as being warmer than I remember it ten or fifteen years ago. I just don’t. Global warming remains a terrible abstraction for me.

That abstractness about the environment changed today. A Facebook friend sent the above video along to me. It’s a portion of a new film called Dear President Obama Americans Against Fracking in One Voice. The man who is talking about his work in fracking, his mishap, and his subsequent cancer diagnosis is Sal Bombardiere. I went to high school with Sal. He was a friend of mine. It is heartbreaking to see a man, any man, so sick and so broken. But I know this man. I remember Sal as a fun guy, a jokester. Somebody you certainly wanted as your friend.

            Although I’ve written critically about hydraulic fracturing (here) and (here), I have not read great deal on the topic; so I have been trying to keep an open mind. I’ve talked to folks in the industry, and they have been quite convincing when they have explained the safety of the extraction process.

            That has changed today. I don’t know how anyone can watch Sal in this video and dismiss the concerns of those worried about fracking operations close to or in their communities.

            Where I was suspicious, I am now angry. Chris Hedges, the journalist, author, and activist, in his recent book with cartoonist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction Days of Revolt, has called Appalachia an economic sacrifice zone. Along with the economy, Hedges can add the sacrifice of human lives. Maybe it’s time for people to start saying and repeating another simple phrase: Appalachian lives matter.