Google “environmental justice in Appalachia” and nearly every returned link will exclusively describe the impact of coal extraction on the region. It’s no surprise, then, that here in Pulaski, VA, many of us only feel peripherally connected to that conversation. Although we have had a few coal mining operations in this County historically, most of […]
Leaving Coal Country
It’s been nearly 9 years since I took my first trip as an adult to Appalachia. My now-wife, then girlfriend, had a summer internship at a little church in the region. So one weekend I left the cornfields of Indiana in my Honda, bound southeast. I had plenty of visions in mind of where I […]
Images of change in coal country
As lovers of the Appalachian mountains in which we live, it is very disturbing to hear about the mountaintop removal operations to extract coal from beneath their peaks. But unless you happen to live in the directly affected communities, it may be hard to see the impact. Even in the affected communities, the full physical […]