You better watch out!
Better not cry!
Better not pout!
I'm telling you why,
Santa Claus is comin' to town.
He's making a list
and checking it twice.
He's going to find out who's naughty and nice.
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town.
We better watch out. We better not cry. While Santa checks his list twice, so too might you and I. The ebony chunks Old Saint Nick might place in our stocking, contrary to what coal corporation sponsored commercials might claim, are not clean. Nor is this source of energy cheap. When used as a resource for power, this sedimentary rock is dirty, deadly, and digs deep into the pocketbooks, and personal lives, of those the industry touches. In America, that may be you and me.
More than 60 percent of all coal mined in the United States today, in fact, comes from strip mines.
In the "United States of Coal," Appalachia has become the poster child for strip mining's worst depravations, which come in the form of mountaintop removal.
An estimated 750,000 to 1 million acres of hardwood forests, a thousand miles of waterways and more than 470 mountains and their surrounding communities -- an area the size of Delaware -- have been erased from the southeastern mountain range in the last two decades.
Thousands of tons of explosives -- the equivalent of several Hiroshima atomic bombs -- are set off in Appalachian communities every year.
More than 104,000 miners in America have died in coal mines since 1900.
Twice as many have died from black lung disease.
Dangerous pollutants, including mercury, filter into our air and water (through mining practices.)
The injuries and deaths caused by overburdened coal trucks are innumerable.
Source . . . Washington Post. Jeff Biggers is the author of "The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture and Enlightenment to America."
"Drill baby, drill," is the now ever-present and popular battle-cry for many Americans. From Presidential candidates to everyday people, those who wish to consume sweet light crude as they have for a more than a century remind me of my hair, and the current President's energy policy. I ponder the parallels and invite you to consider . . .
During a recent press conference, as I gazed upon the President of the United States, noticeably aged after years in the Oval Office, I thought of my hair and my history. His wavy gray locks are not as the strands that fall from my head. Nor did the diminutive curl that danced on his brow remind me of my own tresses. The style the Chief Executive donned did not resemble the permanent waves, pompadours, or ponytails I once wore. As George W. Bush spoke of his energy policy, I pondered. His approach to petroleum and power were as the methodology I embraced when I colored my hair.
The sad reality of politics-as-usual seems to make the development of a sustainable energy policy almost impossible. We need bold leadership right now, both to retool our economy and reverse the terrible damage we're doing to the global ecosystem. Instead, we get . . . offshore drilling? That's obviously not the answer to "The Oil Problem," short- or long-term.
At this point, we need to face the fact that change is inevitable. The only question is what that inevitability will be: a quick transition to a post-fossil-fuel economy, or the devastating effects of our refusal to do so.
Americans speak of the divide within this country. Most accept the labels. We are a nation of Red states and Blue regions. People define themselves as Conservatives or Liberals. West Virginian primary election voters, who were asked, reinforced the notion in this nation we are not unified. One fifth of those polled stated, skin color influenced their decision. Former Senator John Edwards often expresses his distress for what he sees as "Two Americas." The one time Presidential candidate reminds us of why the common folks clamor. The rich get richer while the poor become more impoverished. For some of those who fight to endure, a "gas tax holiday" is thought essential. Others believe such a measure will negatively effect the infrastructure and the environment. In Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 14, 2008 a Black man and a white man stood on a stage together united and equal. Some, in this splintered nation of ours, thought this was a sign. Perhaps, Americans would finally come together as one.
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