Mountaintop removal mining

If you don't know what mountaintop removal is, please watch the following video:

How can any human being on this planet believe it is okay to desecrate our Earth, our planet, our home in this way?  How can we be so blind and ignorant as to let this type of destruction take place? Not only is it exploding the top of a mountain off, it is altering the natural order of the environment. The coal companies may argue that mitigation can restore a mountain, how could one seriously think that is true? Even it were true, the act of removing the top of a mountain and letting the resulting debris pollute the rivers, air and streams is not acceptable. You can't reverse that.

I love the mountains. I could not even fathom the idea of having a mountain that I live near or hike at to be ruined like this. How can we cut down forests and take the homes of wildlife? How would you like it if someone came to your house and bulldozed it down to mine what's underneath it? Why do we think it is okay to do that to other living things? Because we've come to view the Earth and environment as a resource and nothing more. While mountaintop removal might not be happening right outside of our own doors, think about the people who do live in these areas and whose landscapes are being forever altered and destroyed. I understand that as a species on this planet, that we must use natural resources for our survival. However, we are consuming way more than we need, without thinking about the impact, without realizing that our planet is a delicate system that when altered in small ways has huge negative effects. Further, with all the technology out there, there is no reason for us to destroy our Earth in this way simply to provide electricity to our homes.

Watching this video makes my cry. Not only is it devastating to see the effects we are having on our planet, but also knowing that I am responsible for it at some level.

The sad thing is, most of us don't even know about this, and if we do, we do nothing to change it. We have the power to change the way things are done, we just have to fight, voice our opinion and make change happen by the way we spend our money and through our own actions. In this society of consumerism, money talks. "Society" and corporations will adapt to what the people want, but we have to educate ourselves about such things as mountaintop removal and change our own actions. If we won't buy coal-powered electricity, companies will eventually stop producing it. Our money is power. Your home could be powered by the coal that came directly from this horrible mining procedure. In many cases, you have the power  (pun intended) to can change that: How to Buy Green Power and Electricity. Another troubling thought is that is some areas, it costs much more to purchase green energy, so those who are barely scraping by to pay their bills may not have this as an option. I think it is awful that this is even an issue in this country, but that's a whole other topic. Still, for most of us, just a simple and minor change in our spending can allow us to buy green energy.

Quite frankly, I can't live with myself, knowing that each time I turn the light on, I might be contributing to the destruction of something I love more than anything, and something that we are losing at unprecedented rates - wilderness, forests, mountains, streams, wildlife, the list goes on.  It isn't right to leave future generations with a planet that is in worse condition than when we were here. Sadly, just a few years ago, I had no idea that such devastation happened. Most of us don't realize what an enormous impact we make when we do something as seemingly harmless as turning on the lights in our own homes. I know one thing. I have some work to do to figure out what changes I need to make until I can somehow afford or figure out how to go off the grid entirely.