“Mountaintop Removal? I prefer to call it Flat Land Enhancement” No, this isn’t another attempt by the coal industry to re-brand their egregious mining practices. It was Stephen Colbert’s response to Robert Kennedy Jr’s call for an end to the coal industry’s systematic destruction of Appalachia. Bobby Kennedy was on the Colbert Report last night [...]
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 [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Last week at Power Shift 2011, Rainforest Action Network teamed up with over a hundred youth to take the streets of Washington D.C. and speak a little truth to Wall Street’s power. Banks like Citi and PNC remain some of the biggest funders of mountaintop removal coal mining and tar sand extraction and pipeline projects [...]
Continue reading...Monday, April 25, 2011
Last Saturday at Powershift 2011, climate activist Tim DeChristopher challenged the climate movement to join Appalachian groups in their campaign to stop mountaintop removal. He called for waves of activists, young and old, to occupy mountaintop removal mine sites and create a crisis for the coal industry and for political administrations that allow mountaintop removal [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Going to Powershift? Want to stop Big Coal and Big Oil? Aren’t you tired of how Wall Street literally gets away with murder? Then put a little “action” in your life with Rainforest Action Network (action is our middle name, after all.) Please join RAN and friends on Saturday April 16th at 1:00pm outside the [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, April 5, 2011
It’s way past time for the world’s banks to stop funding the wholesale destruction of Appalachia’s ecosystems. Rainforest Action Network and the Sierra Club released the 2011 Mountaintop Removal Report Card today. The report card exposes relationships between 10 of the biggest banks in the world and the top companies practicing mountaintop removal mining in [...]
Continue reading...
Thursday, June 2, 2011
0 Comments