Today another 111 people were arrested sitting in at the White House calling on President Barack Obama to deny the Keystone XL pipeline’s permits. In a powerful example of cross-movement solidarity, a large delegation of Appalachians who have been fighting mountaintop removal coal mining participated in the sit-in. They joined a delegation of pipeline landowners [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, July 20, 2011
I love the smell of direct action in the morning. Last week, I was part of Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide taking over the governor of Montana’s offices in protest of tar sands development, and this morning, the RAMPS Campaign put a couple of tree-sitters up on Coal River Mountain to stop mountaintop [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, June 16, 2011
A new must-see movie is out about the anti-mountaintop removal movement. Featuring Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “The Last Mountain” focuses on the issues of mountaintop removal and hard work of many people inside and outside the coalfields of Appalachia fighting to end it. The film has gotten a lot of attention, to the point where [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, June 14, 2011
“The corporations take advantage of people in Appalachia, and this is happening all over Appalachia, not just West Virginia… We have to save one mountain at a time.” -Psera Newman, Lexington KY Billy Bragg sings about there being power in a union. But after the past week, I see that there is power not just [...]
Continue reading...Monday, June 6, 2011
Despite threats and intimidation by King Coal’s supporters, 600 courageous marchers kicked off a five-day march from Marmet, WV to Blair Mountain. Blair Mountain was the site of the second largest armed insurrection (after the Civil War) in U.S. history when, in 1921, 8,000-10,000 miners fighting for union rights took up arms against hired coal [...]
Continue reading...Friday, May 27, 2011
Ison Rock Ridge is a mountain in southwest Virginia under attack by coal companies seeking to blow the top off of it for seams of coal. Today in Appalachia, VA, 50 Virginia residents and Mountain Justice activists marched through the town to celebrate Ison Rock Ridge and protest it’s pending demise. Here’s the press release: [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 26, 2011
This is like a John Grisham thriller put onto a reality show for all of us to see. Months ago, it was announced that Alpha Natural Resources began the process of acquiring coal criminal Massey Energy. Massey, long known for destroying Appalachia’s mountains with mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining and responsible for killing 29 of [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 25, 2011
I’ve been part of the movement to end mountaintop removal for five years now. In 2008, RAN and I helped organize blockade actions against Dominion Energy which was building a new coal fired power plant in Wise, VA. In 2009 and 2010, we worked in solidarity with Appalachian and direct action groups in southern West [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gandhi. King. Eastern Europe. Seattle. Latin America. Peopl- powered, non-violent, yet confrontational movements make historical change. We’re now in the midst of another groundswell of people power. As we’ve seen in Egypt, Tunisia and the U.S. Midwest, peaceful protest and non-violent direct action have led the way. Now the Appalachian movements for a just, sustainable future [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, April 26, 2011
I hold no illusions about how much political power in the U.S. lies in corporate hands. That’s why, a few years ago, I started to acquire a portfolio of shares in a number of banking and energy companies. As a shareholder, I’m entitled to one opportunity each year to question CEOs and senior executives about [...]
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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
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