Robert Kennedy Jr. introduces a new film, "The Last Mountain," which illustrates the fight to save the last great Appalachian mountain from "mountaintop removal." A giant coal mining corporation is pushing to blow it up using a devastating strip-mining practice which has destroyed entire landscapes. The Coal River mountain community is fighting to preserve the mountain and build a wind farm on its ridges instead. "The Last Mountain" turns a light on the battle being played out in America between energy needs and environmental and public health concerns.
Organizers gather on Zeb Mountain in east Tennessee to protest mountaintop removal mining, 07/28/08. (photo: indymedia.us)
For more information on "The Last Mountain" and to view trailer videos see: www.thelastmountainmovie.com/video
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
That's a destroyed mountain either way. And I'm a long-time member of Defenders.
Access roads for wind turbines are tens of feet wide, and don't have any effect on the mountain beyond the roads and their drainage ditches.
The wind turbines may be less scenic than pristine mountains. They may have their own environmental effects (bird strikes, mining of the raw materials used to build the turbines). But compared to coal, the harm is negligible.
Furthermore, wind turbines generate considerably more jobs. The jobs to construct them would be a big economic boost to an economically distressed region. Even after initial construction, maintenance of the turbines would provide more jobs than the coal mines do -- without the environmental destruction.
Its primary focus is to tell how coal is destructive in many ways: destroying the scenic mountains from which it is mined, poisoning and flooding the watersheds and living spaces down-stream of it, and spewing toxins into the atmosphere where it has no respect for state boundaries.
However, as with most advocacy documentaries, it's likely that most people who see it already agree with its message, and most of who don't already agree are those who strongly disagree and just plan to write rebuttals. Very few people who are undecided are likely to see it, so it's unlikely change a lot of minds. It's still useful, however, because it can do a lot to energize people who agree with the message to do something, and empower them with information they can use to address the issue.
Fleet Management
RSS feed for comments to this post.