Dana's blog

Yeah Energy Revolution! Today at dead noon Al Gore sauntered up to the national media and made some pretty hot comments Read the whole speech here, but here are my highlights:

"I don’t remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape...gasoline prices...electricity rates...Jobs...outsourced. Home mortgages...Banks, automobile companies...."

Ugh, what a bummer. What follows is a bunch of stuff about how the ice cap could be gone in 5 years, and other stuff that makes me think maybe I should give up this stopping the coal machine gig and just lay on an air conditioned beach drinking Cosmos...But wait!

"Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges...our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core...[of] the economic, environmental and national security crises...

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans – in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen...

So I ask you to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge – for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now."

Recently SEAC has had the amazing opportunity to be part of a totally radical, but just plain practical new project: Getting wind farms on potential Mountaintop Removal sites. After a mountain has been blown to hell, well, it's not so good for wind. But if we can prevent the destruction of the mountain, we can fuel our country while stopping dirty coal.

The only thing cooler would be to find a way to harvest the hot air put out by coal companies trying to convince us that coal is chock full of "Clean." Read the info below to learn more about what you can do to support this amazing new initiative...

As you know, we are at an exciting intersection -- we can keep investing in dangerous and destructive coal technologies, or we can build up a clean, just, sustainable future with renewable energy. That choice currently lies at Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia. Residents there have chosen to invest in wind energy instead of a 6,600 acre Mountaintop Removal site. This would save Coal River Mountain for wind development, protect more than 10 miles of streams, and help to reduce global warming by preventing the release of over 80 million tons of CO2 over the next twenty years. Unfortunately, a major Appalachian coal company, Massey Energy, has already applied for 4 permits to mine this land for coal using the dirtiest and destructive form of coal mining known - Mountaintop Removal.

I encourage people to read up on histories of resistance in Appalachia as we move into a period of national resistance of the coal industry. One of my favorites is Fighting Back in Appalachia by Stephen Fisher.

A note from Dave Cooper, who travels the US telling about Mountaintop Removal, see his website at www.mountainroadshow.com This was originally written for a Kentucky audience.

Some Thoughts On Civil Disobedience

Speaking before an audience of over 1200 people at I Love Mountains Day in Frankfort, KY in February 2008, Kentucky conservationist and poet Wendell Berry said this about non-violent civil disobedience:

“…You know some of their names. Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King are two of them; there have been many others. Their solution to the problem of powerlessness is to make powerlessness a power….

“ [W]hile we are being patient, more mountains, forests and streams, more people’s homes and lives, will be destroyed in the Appalachian coal fields. Are 400,000 acres of devastated land and 1,200 miles of obliterated streams not enough? This needs to be stopped. …I will say that I don't like the idea of resorting to non-violent obstruction, and I don’t feel very brave about it. It involves more time and trouble than I want to donate; the penalties can be unpleasant, and they can be much worse than that. Furthermore, I am now out of patience with useless protesting and lobbying, I have no interest in useless civil disobedience. You are not going to catch me making a merely symbolic gesture.

I received an email from Ranger Rick today, asking me to support the Lieberman/Warner Climate Security Act. Check out NWF's Website to see the unfortunate truth.

NRDC and League of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense, and Clean Air Task force are supporting this bill as well, which would give $515 Billion among other negatives which Brian has outlined so well here. Once we start funding Carbon Sequest-crap-tion it will be more difficult for grassroots community groups to stop coal plants in their neighborhood, as well as to stop dirty coal extraction and production. $515 billion dollars could do a lot for green jobs and renewable energy (which actually exist).

SEAC is proud and excited to say that our actions at Mountain Justice Spring Break 2007 (helped out by many other coalfield groups, of course) are featured in the new Documentary "Burning the Future: Coal in America"

It will be airing on the Sundance Channel, May 13th, 16th, and 18th. In addition, the DVD's will go on sale next week on the film's website: www.burningthefuture.com

Here’s the film’s short synopsis:

In Burning the Future: Coal in America, writer/director David Novack examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by an emerging coal-based US energy policy, local activists watch the nation praise coal without regard to the devastation caused by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and a government that appeases industry, our heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation’s help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life.

Spoiler Alert: One of "our heroes," SEAC National Council Member Sarah Kidder, is the final scene, being dragged out of the West Virginia State Capitol building after taking a stand with community members to say that building coal silos within breathing distance of elementary schools is not good for kid's health. We love Sarah!

Every kid wants one! Spice up your next garden party, coal plant blockade, earth day event or visit to your granny's with a great big spinning windmill replica.

These do not generate energy, you'll be disapointed to know -- EXCEPT Crowd and Media energy.

They look great on the evening news. Don't believe me? Go to www.mjsb.org to find out for yourself.

If you find issues with these directions or have improvements, please email dana [at] seac.org as they are a work in progress.

This is so crazy. What may not be completely clear from this clip is that Blankenship actually pushes the reporter about a hundred feet while the reported says "Please let go of me" about 12 times. All the while Blankenship has this creepy grimacey smile on his face.

In other news of coal thuggery, "Friends of Coal" recently busted up a prayer vigil for the mountains in Ansted, WV. They brought about 30 folks, including small children, to heckle, make rude comments and physically threaten the pastors, priests, grannies and other citizens that had come out to pray and sing Amazing Grace together on the mountain side. Despite the determination of the Fiends of Coal who brought their small children to participate in a fun morning of verbally abusing people trying to pray, it actually turned into a useful dialog when the Pro-Mountain folks explained to them that they want to see a clean, just West Virginia with more jobs for coal miners. Indeed, Mountain Top Removal has lost WV about 110,000 jobs since the 70's and an immediate ban on Mountaintop Removal would create up to 2,000 deep mining jobs.

I'm excited about a lot -- this fall's upcoming plans for Power Vote which involves bird-dogging every candidate we can (Presidential, City Council, Student Government) till they go to sleep and see "Stop" on one eyelid and "Global Warming" on the other, and dream all night about stopping coal and the potential for Green Jobs to revitalize our economy.

And the PowerShift 2009 conference next winter which will involved 10,000 young people gathering on Capitol Hill to scare the pants off our newly elected reps and president, as well as build a powerful grassroots network that can the uproot systems of oppression that cause environmental injustice with its right hand while stopping global warming with its left.

But first, lets get ourselves sharpened up, inspired, and connected with other amazing, amazing Environmental Justice Activists! We have a lot of work to do, if we're going to like, save the mountains and the planet and stuff.

Mountain Justice Summer Visit www.mountainjusticesummer.org to learn about Mountain Justice Summer May 17-23 in Harlan County KY!

Energy Action Coalition Mega Election and Organizing Camp!
Learn how to run Power Vote www.powervote.org and organize for clean energy, green jobs initiatives and no more fossil fuels. August 11-17 and location TBA
www.powervote.org

SPROGS Our friends with the Sierra Student Coalition with some help from SEN are hosting Summer Programs -- SPROGS -- all summer, all over the US (and in Puerto Rico !!) there are 300 slots available for these incredible weeks of training. Check it -- www.ssc.org/sprog

Climate Convergences http://www.climateconvergence.org/ These week long action training camps in the Northeast, in Virginia and in Washington state (and in the UK!) They still need help (lots!) planning the Southeast Climate Convergence in central VA, email risingtide@mountainrebel.net to get involved in that.

GreenPeace Change It! http://www.changeit08.org/ In Boston July 16-21 and Seattle, July 26-31 Led by GreenPeace, sponsored by Seventh Generation cleaning products.

Citizens Direct Action Training Camp against Global Warming in Montana June 6-11th This camp will focus on direct action skills especially for campaigns against tar sands and new coal. Get more info here: jr@globalwarmingsolution.org

And of course, all of the summer internship possibilities with SEAC and SEAC's partners in the coalfields of Appalachia.

More Summer training camps will be developing in the next month, There are more trainings coming up in the Midwest and elsewhere. but this is the most up to date info. To receive more info, hop onto SEAC's mailing list - -see below.

To be added to SEAC's mailing list (3-4 emails a month) just visit www.seac.org/getinvolved/join

If you would like to help plan MJSB 2009 (you know it!) We can add you to the planning collective list and you will receive periodic updates all summer about how to plug into MJSB 2009.

200+ people from 17 states participated in 7 direct actions in 4 states along with 100+ workshops, 6 service projects, 4 concerts, 5 climb trainings, 2 listening projects, 1 lobbying event, 1 canvassing project, and 1 square dance all packed into 18 days in March 2008 that earned more than 60 media hits. All of this excitement was planned by a mostly volunteer collective of ~15 youth from 6 different states during more than 50 hours a conference calls.

We were trying to stop power plants and send out a strong message that youth in America want NO NEW COAL! We dropped by two Bank of Americas to play old time mountain music for them, and to let them know that funding coal global warming is killing our mountain traditions. Several students shut down their bank accounts so that their savings weren’t funding dirty coal.

We worked with community groups across Virginia trying to defeat proposed coal plant in Wise County, telling the Department of Environmental Quality to deny the permit and give the Citizen's Air Pollution Control Board decision making power over the coal power permit. This is wonderful news as the Air Board is committed to holding the permit to a much higher standard than DEQ.

We worked with community groups in Ohio who are fighting 5 proposed coal power plants as well as 40 years of proposed underground coal mining in Meigs County, Ohio. Residents said that they wanted a chance to sit down with the board of AMP-Ohio, which is trying to push through a dirty coal plant, and tell them about the effects that the 4 coal plants in their area are having on their health and quality of life. We showed up at the AMP-Ohio headquarters, demanded politely, if a bit loudly, and they gave us exactly what we wanted.

Lunch time as usual was interrupted in the Capitol Building of West Virginia today when a spontaneous Fossil Fools Awards Ceremony began. The ceremony was held to celebrate West Virginia governor Joe Manchin and Coal Baron Don Blankenship receiving the prestigious award of Life Time Achievement in Fossil Foolery in Appalachia. Unfortunately, neither Manchin nor Blankenship were able to collect their awards in person, but news cameras from several local TV stations were there as stand-ins accepted the awards in their honor.

Unfortunately, Manchin and Blankenship were beat out by Bush and Cheney for the International Fossil Fools Lifetime Achievement Award. Because of their hard work, however, we decided to award them a special Appalachian Fossil Fools Award. Our own boys can certainly brag that they’ve done more than their share for a small state when it comes to advancing the cause of enhancing the profits of big coal at the expense of our economy, our mountains, and our future.

Activists showed up with 8 foot high model wind turbines and a functional mobile solar panel to show alternatives to fossil fuel use, advocating for a clean just energy transition away from the toxic coal industry that has crushed West Virginia’s economy. Several thousand green jobs in wind turbine and solar panel manufacturing are just across from the West Virginia border in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Governor Manchin’s insistence on being a fossil fool has not allowed industry like this to employ West Virginia workers.