Jeff Biggers gets it.
The author of The United States of
Appalachia and Reckoning at Eagle
Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland and a man who grew up
around coal mining and its legacy understands the hellishness that surface
mining, and particularly mountaintop removal, unleashes on Appalachia. Here in his Guardian opinion piece, Would There Be More Regulation of Coal Mining If It Didn't Just Affect "Hillbillies," he explains that the Appalachian Mountains are ravaged and the
streams and ecosystems are ruined because we simply disregard the
lives of Appalachians. We think that they are just a bunch of dumb hillbillies who
deserve their lot.
There is obviously more to it than
the larger prejudices of the country as a whole. There are the hand-in-gloveworkings of the coal companies and politicians of the region; the infection of school curricula in which students are given propaganda by
King Coal to be learned as lessons in their classrooms; there is the endemic poverty that grinds down people’s spirits and keeps them ever distracted
worrying about their mounting bills and being trapped in an economic system
that gives them as much choice in their lives as their ancestors had in the
company towns.
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| It's just a bunch of hillbillies who live nearby. So who cares? |
But Biggers gets the larger picture
of how mountaintop removal can be such a low priority, even for people and
groups that care about poverty or environmental concerns. You really should
read his opinion piece. Here is another link to it right here. And remember,
Appalachian lives matter.
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