The Appalachian Mountains are being destroyed. Mountains are literally being blown up for the purposes of mining coal.
As you can imagine, the repercussions of this are grave. Here are just a few, which I found on ilovemountains.org:
- More than 7 percent of Appalachian forests have been cut down and more than 1,200 miles of streams across the region have been buried or polluted between 1985 and 2001.
- Over 1000 miles of streams have been permitted to be buried in valley fills. (For scale, this is a greater distance than the length of the entire Ohio River).
- Mountaintop removal mining, if it continues unabated, will cause a projected loss of more than 1.4 million acres by the end of the decade—an area the size of Delaware—with a concomitant severe impact on fish, wildlife, and bird species, not to mention a devastating effect on many neighboring communities.
- 800+ square miles of mountains are estimated to be already destroyed. (this is equal to a one-quarter mile wide swath of destruction from New York to San Francisco – it is also significantly underestimated).
To see the devastation for yourself, download Google Earth. Look for “Appalachian Mountaintop Removal” under the “Global Awareness” folder of the “Layers” sidebar. Click here for more instructions.
To learn more about mountain top removal and its myriad environmental impacts, visit Appalachian Voices and I Love Mountains, or check out this video. More importantly, take action and stop these atrocities. Send an email to your local representative - it’s quick and easy with this form. Don’t forget to spread the word to your friends and family.
Oh my gosh that is horrible!! I can’t imagine that people would be crazy enough to literally blow up mountains, the habitats for many animals and fun places for people, just for coal and stuff like that. Thanks for the link to the site!