Here is a video of one of the people living in the town of Bokoshe, Oklahoma where coal ash is dumped.
The coal ash she is talking about can contain arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, thallium, selenium, molybdenum, mercury, and many other toxins. That is what she is cleaning off her windows and breathing in everyday.
Coal ash can also spill and create a major disaster like the Tennessee spill back in December of 2008. About 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled over Tennessee. It's not an easy spill to clean up either. Treehugger.com reported this past December that the clean up is far from over.
Mountaintop coal removal is another problem with coal. The EPA defines mountaintop coal removal mining as- “Mountaintop removal/valley fill is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal. Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.”
The coal companies want you to believe they can make clean coal but no matter if they truly can capture the C02 at the plants or not, coal will always be dirty. The mining of the coal no matter what plant it goes go is harmful for us and the environment. People are hurting and even dying for our power. Coal can not continue to supply more than half of our power!
To help save our mountains and end mountaintop removal coal mining visit ILoveMountains.org and to learn more about the coal ash in Bokoshe, Oklahoma visit Coalfighter on YouTube.
Lynn at Organic Mania talks about not really knowing much about coal before this carnival. I think this is where most Americans find themselves, it was long ago I was the same.
Karen at Best of Mother Earth says "A bit like my wish for fast food restaurants to be shut down. Ain’t happening. I wish I could feel optimistic about this one. I don’t." I sadly agree. She also shares some of coals history and why clean coal isn't really clean.
Diane at The Big Green Purse talks about Obama's State of the Union address and why clean coal and nukes shouldn't be on the table for helping our energy problems.
Green Bean over at The Green Phone Booth talks about reading Lost Mountain and about mountaintop removal coal mining and what it's doing to Appalachia.
Deanna at Crunchy Chicken talks about one of the many ways the coal industry is working to make sure everyone thinks coal is wonderful, this time their target is kids.
Hope you have learned a bit about coal from the Green Moms. Making people aware of the problem is the first and biggest step.
And here is what the other Green Moms have to say about coal:
Lynn at Organic Mania talks about not really knowing much about coal before this carnival. I think this is where most Americans find themselves, it was long ago I was the same.
Karen at Best of Mother Earth says "A bit like my wish for fast food restaurants to be shut down. Ain’t happening. I wish I could feel optimistic about this one. I don’t." I sadly agree. She also shares some of coals history and why clean coal isn't really clean.
Diane at The Big Green Purse talks about Obama's State of the Union address and why clean coal and nukes shouldn't be on the table for helping our energy problems.
Green Bean over at The Green Phone Booth talks about reading Lost Mountain and about mountaintop removal coal mining and what it's doing to Appalachia.
Deanna at Crunchy Chicken talks about one of the many ways the coal industry is working to make sure everyone thinks coal is wonderful, this time their target is kids.
Hope you have learned a bit about coal from the Green Moms. Making people aware of the problem is the first and biggest step.
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8 comments:
The way coal is mined is both outrageous and a tragedy. Thank you for reminding us that mining destroys not just the environment but people's lives.
Lisa, thank you for suggesting this topic. I learn so much through all of my "sisters" at the Green Moms Carnival.
And the videos you posted are very moving.
You are a lovely hostess Lisa, thank you. Tough topic and so much harm in coal production.
These stories about these people--esp. in Appalachia--just break my heart. The exploitation of them and our natural resources for some company's profit is abhorrent.
This issue is so complex, because of course we are all complicit in the mining that happens here in Appalachia. Right now we have a 5 part series being written in our local newspaper about coal and the affects the new legislation will have on the livelihoods of many employed by coal. Today the title is: Mining the Mountains-For development you need flat land. It's hard to believe some people are happy to blow off a mountain top in order to get flat land to build a Wal-Mart...but that's one "benefit" listed! I didn't know about the carnival, but I plan to write a review on the series in the next day or two, keep an eye out :)
Diane: I agree and thanks for joining in!
Lynn: Your welcome, thanks for joining in. And yes the videos are moving, I watched many before picking which to use, lots of tears went in to this post.
Karen: Thanks Karen!!
Green Girl: It is very heart breaking.
Sara: I have heard that reason. A candidate I liked used that and lost my support. I hope America will see this issue and start working to fix it.
I finally got back here to read this. It really is so saddening and disheartening to read about this. I have my head in the sand a bit on this one, because in my region we get the vast majority of our power from hydroelectricity. But that is NO excuse, and a good reason why wake-up calls like this are so valuable. We need to know this stuff, because if more people know about it then we might actually have a hope of changing it.
Thanks for this wonderful blog - I'm so glad that I found it!! Alot of insight! I would like to come back to this.. So, I will adding a link to my site from yours!
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