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Old 09-19-2008, 06:32 PM   #1
fil
Avalon Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: western Appalachia
Posts: 48
Lightbulb Mountaintop Removal

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If you look at West Virginia and Kentucky in satellite mode on Google Maps, you'll see some odd pale patches strewn here and there. These are sites where coal companies have been allowed to remove the tops of mountains to get at the coal seams.

You'll probably never see them from the highways, and that's part of the planning that goes into these operations. Out of sight, out of mind...


from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal

Paleogeologists have determined that the Appalachians are the oldest mountains on Earth. Does that matter to coal company executives? Apparently not. All they seem to care about is mining coal as efficiently as possible...


But, never mind the coal companies. Before long, coal will not be mined anywhere on Earth -- and the practice of mountaintop removal will cease. You can join the protest if you want, try to end it sooner, but coal is considered to be extremely important to the region (for now).



The question is, what will become of these sites?

Left alone, eventually they would meld back into the landscape, forgotten...


What if, instead of being left alone, these places were seen as lands of opportunity? What if people came to them in droves, to settle, to build new communities?

Would it not be poetic for prosperity to blossom out of devastation? Where once the greed for fossil energy prevailed, altering the very landscape irretrievably, people could live in tune with the Earth and with one another, building a sustainable future.


These places already have access roads. They are somewhat remote, but not excessively so. These mountains being so very old and worn down, altitude is not an issue. They are far removed from hurricanes and tornadoes, and at a safe distance from seismic zones.

Then there's the view (looking outward).


The view of the sites themselves? Not so great now, but imagine the possibilities. Architects -- and landscape architects -- could have a field day. There is room for vast fields of hops and barley, not to mention other crops. Greenhouses, orchards, vineyards...

To do all this anywhere else would involve the destruction of an existing ecosystem. Here, that part has already been done -- so almost anything would be an improvement.


So. This is my submission concerning possible sites for relocation.

To me, it's not so much about being 'safe' as having the room to build an entire community within a stable environment.

A fresh start, and an example for the future.


Think about it.



- fil


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Old 09-19-2008, 10:11 PM   #2
fil
Avalon Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: western Appalachia
Posts: 48
Default Re: Mountaintop Removal

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This page shows the destruction of Kayford Mountain as it happened:

http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mount...010/index.html


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