Negative Effects Of Appalachia

Coal became the fuel that fired the furnaces of the nation, transforming the Appalachian region socially and economically. Unfortunately mountain people didn't realize the implications of their mineral wealth. Many sold their land and mineral rights for pennies an acre to outlanders. Appalachians became laborers rather than entrepreneurs. Coal became a major industry which was extremely sensitive to outside fluctuations in the economy, leading to boom and bust cycles. The industry was controlled by interests outside the region, so that little of the profit remained or was reinvested.

Appalachia, a vast, beautiful panoply of lush green mountains. At least, most of the thin line of peaks that make up the Appalachian Mountains used to be that way. Currently, the continued spread of a method of coal extraction known as mountaintop removal mining has plagued areas of the eastern United States, mainly including the state of West Virginia. Throughout its increasing stages of implementation, mountaintop removal mining has caused numerous hampering effects, including causing serious harm to nearby residents, and polluting a once-pure environment. Because of this, mountaintop removal mining needs to be limited in order to preserve the natural state of the Appalachian Mountains.

The borough of Centralia was once a community that had enough coal to make it a lively, industrial area. It was a small community, but a prosperous town, operating its own school district. Centralia once had 5 hotels, 7 churches, 27 saloons, 2 theaters, a bank, a post office, and 14 stores. The town of Centralia, Pennsylvania had veins full of anthracite, the richest and purest coal of all. There is just one problem: It is difficult to ignite anthracite, but once it is lit, it is very hard to put out. No one really knows what happened but one theory suggests that in the spring of 1962, five volunteer firefighters were burning excess garbage in a landfill behind Odd Fellows Cemetery. They unknowingly picked a spot where anthracite was near the

Any level of intrusion and unwanted exposure to another person’s culture will inevitably have a detrimental effect on your own. The Native American Indian people’s forced appropriation of western European culture has had such a negative effect on their culture that many tribes were entirely decimated. The American Indian people’s culture and society was built almost entirely around their connection to the land, which was taken away from them.

In Uneven Ground, the author Ronald D. Eller narrates the economic, political, and social change of Appalachia after World War II. He writes “persistent unemployment and poverty set Appalachia off as a social and economic problem area long before social critic Michael Harrington drew attention to the region as part of the “other America” in 1962.”(pp.2) Some of the structural problems stated by Eller include problems of land abuse, political corruption, economic shortsightedness, and the loss of community and culture; personally view the economic myopia as being the most daunting.

Burns, Shirley Stewart. Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007. Print.

The discovery of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania in the late 1700s led to the development of a robust coal industry in the eastern part of Pennsylvania that grew rapidly and contributed greatly to the history and the economy of Pennsylvania. The book The Face of Decline written by Thomas Dublin, Walter Licht, provides a well written historical and personal account of the discovery, growth, and finally the collapse of the anthracite coal industry in Pennsylvania in a chronological format. Half way through the book one starts to notice some changes in the authors format to cause and effect. The change occurs in order to discuss the cause and resulting effect of events in the region and the solutions. The story is one of great growth and opportunity in the early years which are highlighted by the documented economic growth experienced and supported through testimony within the eastern Pennsylvania coal region. After a period of economic prosperity and community growth from 1900 through 1940 challenges began to erode and occur that created problems for the community and the economy that the coal industry provided. Finally the region’s economy suffered horrendous losses as described by interviews of local residents and families who lived and experienced the rise of the region’s economy. Many of the scars are still evident by the blight and decaying scenes one would experience by traveling through the region’s communities that once fueled the American economy with the energy

Under the “canon of invention”, King wanted “Mountaintop” to focus attention on the plight of 1300 sanitation workers whose grievances were blatantly ignored by the city of Memphis. Indeed, King’s purpose was to motivate his audience of strikers and supporters to immediate action. King wanted all to realize that the public should know their presence, their grievances addressed by the city of the Memphis, their rights as America citizens not infringed, and their need for self-actualization not denied. To support his arguments, King provided his extensive personal experience with social injustice and methods of effective and nonviolent protest.

Have you ever heard of mountaintop removal? Mountaintop removal is a recently developed way to mine for coal. It started in in the Appalachian Mountain area around the 1970s. More coal companies are using mountaintop removal to mine for coal. Mountaintop removal is a topic that includes many facts. You can learn about the process of mountaintop removal, where mountaintop removal takes place, and the effects of mountaintop

Today, the extraction of natural resources takes on many different forms. Mountaintop removal (MTR) is one approach applied in the Appalachian region of the United States for the extraction of the resource coal. MTR approaches the coal from the top of the mountain by blasting away the layers of rock above the coal seams and scraping away the layers of coal. This process leaves behind effects to the surrounding environment including flooding, contamination to water and air, health impacts, and ecological impacts. In response to these effects the community members most affected have taken it upon themselves to raise their voices in protest. This form of environmental justice challenges the existing legal permits and policies by

The Last Mountain, directed by Bill Haney, is a documentary that dives into Mining in the Appalachian Mountains, how that affects the community, the environment, employment factors, as well as the protesters and other means that can replace this disastrous way of retracting fossil fuels within our world. Bill Haney is an entrepreneur and an inventor, he started off by creating an air pollution control system for power plants, with immense focus on environmental issues and trying to prevent them. We can view Bill Haney as a credible filmmaker due to his involvement in the problem at hand. He has spent his whole life trying to counteract our involvement in harming the environment, as well as helping people as a whole. This makes him worthy to create a film that embarks on problems and solutions that he has personally dealt with in his life.

One of the features of a rock that makes it commendable in the face of all is the hardness, which of course makes it suitable for many purposes like building of houses or construction of roads. It is also known that great mountains are made out of rocks which gives them wide gaping grandeur and magnificence. In the present day world, some of these mountains are used as places of tourism which in turn aid commercial activities in the regions where they are found; an example of such mountains is the Appalachian Mountains. The strength in the rock is indeed reassuring, in that, the Lord Jesus used it in symbolic teaching when He talked about the foundation of a house; and of course, a house built on the rock will stand the test of time and overcome

Pike River Mine stopped operating, halting the extraction of coal from the mine, and a loss of jobs to a large sector of the Greymouth community. Families have to leave the community in search of new occupations, affecting other businesses in the area relying on the occupants’ business.

This source discuss about how mountaintop removal coal mining is a common procedure that has been carried out at least 500 appalachian peaks. Mountaintop removal is extremely costly to the environment since the debris from mining has buried most of the streams that are crucial to the mississippi river. The residue from cleaning coal have contaminated ponds and underground mines which is dangerous since it can release toxic acid that may end up in groundwater. Individuals are prone to health issues when working in the mines. Sulfide is an occupational hazard and exposure to sulfur can make an individual have headache, irritability and poor memory. Coal dust exposure can cause cardiovascular and lung disease, and cancer. The source stated that

The closing of mines in the mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia not only affected the people of