Workin' On A (Mountaintop) Coal Mine
Ashley Judd says enough's enough when it comes to a coal mining practice called mountaintop removal. Though the actress seems to be advocating for a lot of different causes these days. this particular industry has a stronghold in her home state of Kentucky, and the Appalachian mountains that surround it. She has said that coal mining itself is not as bad as this particular method of extracting coal.
Advocates of the practice claim that one of its benefits is the creation of more flat land, while many opponents think that the ratio of coal extracted to the amount of damage done to the mountains is an unacceptable cost. Not only are tops of mountains sheared off (as well as topsoil and vegetation), but the runoff and erosion can affect rivers and streams in surprising ways.
Even on the internet, there's an information war between those who believe mountaintop mining is acceptable and those who don't. The EPA describes mountaintop mining here. The Sierra Club has even taken on mountaintop mining as an environmental justice issue; often mountaintop mining occurs in poorer communities. The poverty of Appalachia has often been a focus of outside media attention, creating a stereotype that many in the area resent.
Judd's advocacy outreach occurred just after a controversial 20/20 feature with Diane Sawyer called Children of the Mountains that looked at the people of Appalachia in a manner some said was incomplete or condescending. Pointing to poor people rarely makes their fortunes change, but sometimes looking at the system in place that supports poverty can change the trend. Judd, who was one of the critics of the 20/20 program, says that coal mining is not the only way for Kentuckians to get to stay in their beautiful home state; she suggested that the beauty of the mountains (without their tops removed) along with a green economy, might be a better way for Kentucky to go.
Judd's advocacy outreach occurred just after a controversial 20/20 feature with Diane Sawyer called Children of the Mountains that looked at the people of Appalachia in a manner some said was incomplete or condescending. Pointing to poor people rarely makes their fortunes change, but sometimes looking at the system in place that supports poverty can change the trend. Judd, who was one of the critics of the 20/20 program, says that coal mining is not the only way for Kentuckians to get to stay in their beautiful home state; she suggested that the beauty of the mountains (without their tops removed) along with a green economy, might be a better way for Kentucky to go.
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