we will save this mountain

Last Monday I had the privilege to join a protest to save one mountain from the destructive onslaught of mountaintop removal coal mining. Coal River Mountain is the tallest standing mountain in West Virginia (almost 500 mountains have been destroyed across Appalachia), and its ridges provide some of the most viable locations for wind power generation. But the coal companies began blasting away at the mountain several weeks ago. This single mountain serves as a potent symbol of the greater struggle for energy justice in the coal fields of Appalachia. (more details here and here).




The protest was intense and bordered on surreal. About 500 people (at most, by my estimate) assembled into two pretty even groups in the parking lot of the DEP in Charleston, separated by two temporary fences and a detail of police. There was a strong counter-protest to this anti-mountaintop removal protest, composing largely of miners (in striped uniforms: they likely got the day off to attend). They had nice printed or vinyl signs with words like "Loud and Proud, Miners of WV" and "Environmentalists: Endless Bitching." They certainly were loud; boisterous shouting, insults, cheers ("whose coal?") and especially the massive coal trucks; a dozen or so of which circled the block, tirelessly airing their booming horns, in an attempt to drown out the speakers at our protest.

You can hear the horns in the background of this video.

Judy Bonds began to shout "Honk if you love mountains" every time a truck went by, blaring its horns. The cheers of our crowd would then join with the shouts and jeers of the miners and other counter-protesters, much to their dismay. (photo cred. Scott E., via facebook)

I had the honor of assuming a "Peacekeeper" role for this action. Dozens of angry miners, shouting, blaring horns, blinded by ignorance and hate. This volatile setting provided a trial-by-fire, as it were, for my peacekeeping skills. Our charge, as Peacekeepers, was to diffuse any conflicts between protesters and counter-protesters, to pull our people aside and remind them of our purpose there, and if necessary, to intercept any insults, glares or violent gestures. ("Sure... no problem... just breathe..." I told myself...)

I found it to be an incredible exercise in non-attachment, in mindfulness, in non-violent thought. Not only did I have to keep my own emotions in check, I had to monitor the emotional state of others around me, and to step in when energetic interactions approached violence.

And I realized:
The whole "us vs. them" polarity is becoming obsolete.
We only believe that we are in competition with each other.
But we all need clean air and clean water, a live-able climate.
Mountaintop removal mining is ecological suicide for Appalachia.
And our continued burning of coal is a fatal mistake for the planet.
Coal extraction is poisoning the same families that are fed by it.
They depend on coal to live, yet it kills them slowly.
What a profound microcosm...
Our collective our addiction to fossil fuels!

If we're going to solve this problem, then we need to dismantle false polarities.
In the end, we're all in the same boat! (except the exploitative corporations... we should vote them off the boat...)

Mining coal is currently the only option for so many fathers that need to feed their children. And of course, the coal companies want to keep it that way! So I was so delighted to hear the words shared by Mountainkeeper Larry Gibson, which included an opening line to the effect of: "Before we shut down the coal companies, we have to create jobs for all of these miners back there!"

The coal fields of Appalachia have provided the cheap and abundant fuel source that has propelled our nation's industrial progress and amassed great wealth for Wall Street bankers. But ironically the top coal-producing regions are also the most impoverished in the country. Imagine if the rest of the country were to pay its dues and respect to the coal regions, and help it to develop more sustainable and just economies? Ideas for restorative justice have been proposed by green jobs champion Van Jones; give the older miners an early retirement and retrain younger miners to perform green and sustainable jobs. What if we helped them create an alternative economy to coal? They could then walk away from the jobs that are killing them!

We all need to respect those who've been sacrificed to get us here (wherever we are...) I guess it comes down to "hating the sin, and not the sinner..." or maybe "the game, not the player?" We need to end mountaintop removal. And we need to end exploitation of all kinds. The miners, as much as they have been conditioned to hate environmentalists, are themselves being exploited by coal companies. The only viable answers to this conundrum will be to work together, to realize that we're on the same side (as humans). The only "them" is the disembodied corporate structures, the machine of exploitation (which, by the way, is in its final death throes), and perhaps the few sad and sleep-walking souls who think they're on top.