mountainmaid’s Recent Comments

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  I agree with your sentiments.  Classism is a huge part of what has held the U.S. environmental movement back for years.  (I'd also throw racism and sexism into the lot.)  It's why looking at these issues from an environmental justice standpoint is so important which takes into account race & class  because while "we all live downstream" it's the communities made up of the poor and people of color that take the hardest abuse. For example, coal slurry waste from the recent TVA spill is being shipped to a landfill next door to a community of color in Georgia.  Activists from the coalfield are making connections to communities outside the region effected by mining and coal fired power plants.  Now if we could just move progressive whites (and Grist writers) to get on board and organize with us across lines of race and color we'd be even more powerful.

  Another reader commented that the author is attacking the Governor and not the people.  I get this, but you can't deny that it's at the expense of the people of West Virginia.  The environmental movement has to learn that they cannot sacrifice people by making gross generalizations or classist/racist remarks about people to prove their point.  It just alienates everyone and keeps us all down. This is a human rights issue as much as it is an environmental issue.

  To Appalachiantransplant I'd say- dont' discontinue your grist subscription.  There's a lot of great coverage on here and people need to hear voices like yours.  Although it's unjust and completely ridiculous that we have to defend ourselves within  "progressive" and "alternative" media outlets we have to engage indialogue with the white, middle class (or upper class) and mostly middle age men who dominate these forums. Traditional 'environmentalists' need an education and more undestandings about the lives of working class and minority communities- whether it be an African-American community in Natchez, Mississippi dealing with the effects of a coalfired power plant, members of the Navajo Nation fighting against mining on sacred lands or Appalachian people living with the true cost of coal. 

  And a personal pet-peeve... It's not okay to lay claim to some kind of insdierness to a culture or identity to justify or rectify some kind of bad behavior or insulting remark.  The author's claim that he is from Tennessee as a means to say, "i'm laughing with you" or  "I'm one of you and this is all just a big misunderstanding" doesn't not amount to some kind of holler cred nor make hillbilly jokes okay.  And like I said earlier- Tennessee ain't West Virginia.  And there's a big difference between growing up poor in Jellico and growing up wealthy in a suburb in Franklin, TN. If the author was the son of a miner from East Tennessee I doubt his comments would have been so insensitive haivng grown up with the stigma you get from being a "hillbilly" in America. But even if he has a mining or working class mountan background, it doesn't mean his comments would be any less hurtful.  Thus, some kind of claim to an ambiguous shared identity doesn't really mean anything- and it's certainly not a good excuse. 

  Let's be transparent with one another and think about race, sex and class within the movement and how that shapes our approach to these issues.  Coal has got to go but so does the  discriminations of  old-school environmentalists- let's work together in the spirit of equality.

  On West Virginia celebrates the blessings of a coal-based economy posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago 27 Responses

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  Hi,

       I get it.  Sarcastic and witty.  It's supposed to be funny but cutting with it's unabashed delivery of truth, right?  But what's so funny about poverty, inequality, and the suffering of people?  The people represented by the statistics presented here live lives that do not control the future of the coal industry.  The future of the coal industry is being controlled by politicians, multinational corporations, special interest lobbyists and us consumers and voters.  Jokes like the ones that appear here don't help the situation.  Instead, they just make the author look cruel and, not to be too mean myself, a little lame for thowring a rawkus sucker punch in lieu of real political and sociological analysis.  It also creates infighting like this.  For a more indepth (and compassionate) read see Ron Eller's newest book "Unlevel Ground: Appalachia since 1945".  Or for a quick look to see how quality of life indicators correlate to surface mining (especially MTR) see:  www.kftc.org/countyprofiles.

       There are "great grassroots things" happening all over the region- KFTC, OVEC, SOCM, CRMW, SAMS- and nation!  Their are real solutions people can plug into by supporting the grassroots groups named above and lobbying thier representatives at home to fund clean power solutions and stop the worst abuses of surface mining such as Mountaintop Removal Mining.  This past winter, anti-MTR bills were entered into the General Assemblies of several states (South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland...) that would ban utilities in those states from buying mountaintop removal mined coal.  Check out Appalachian Voices to learn more at www.ilovemountains.org.  And while you're there- find your personal connection to Mountaintop Removal coal mining- www.ilovemountains.org/myconnection.

      Power to the people of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia... and even the author's Tennessee!  Coal is a dirty lie, but let's keep our resistence and muckraking respectful to Appalachian people.

  P.S.  Tennessee isn't actually next door to West Virginia.  It's pretty far away- especially depending on where in Tennessee you're from. 

  On West Virginia celebrates the blessings of a coal-based economy posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago 27 Responses