dogs on trucks blog: books & videos about MTR

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Books about mountain top removal mining

To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia, by Chad Montrie
Destroying of Appalachia is adapted End of the Rainbow, a book by Tricia Shapiro. It gives many facts about the impacts of MTR on communities and the environment in a wonderfully readable story form.

See these video

Raising Appalachia, a film by Sasha Waters, explores the potential for environmental and economic justice in the coalfields and communities of southern West Virginia by chronicling a grassroots fight against the expansion of the nation's fourth-largest mountaintop mine.
Coal Bucket Outlaw, an appalshop film by Tom Hansell. Coal Bucket Outlaw examines the connection between coal haulers and the larger system that produces America's electricity.

"We're all outlaw truckers... I don't know of one that don't break the law on a daily basis, on an hourly basis, most of us on an every load basis." - Herb Adams owner/operator of a coal truck in Letcher County, KY
Sludge is a documentary that investigates a recent Kentucky coal waste disaster and examines the role of federal regulatory agencies in the coalfields. Filmed over four years, the documentary chronicles the aftermath of the spill, the “whistleblower” case of Jack Spadaro, and the looming threat of coal sludge ponds throughout the region.
Other Appalachian video documentaries from Appalshop
Kilowatt Ours (2004), a film by Jeff Barrie. The message of this sincere and personal documentary, filmed during an 18-month journey around the southeastern region of the United States in search of answers to the most urgent environmental issues of our day: global warming, air pollution, childhood asthma, and mountaintop removal coal mining in Southern Appalachia. The film encourages all of us to make changes in our use of energy.