The New York Times published an article yesterday titled, “As the Mountaintops Fall, a Coal Town Vanishes.” It discusses the devastating effects of mountain top removal mining, in this case, on Lindytown, West Virginia. In our 2010 Fall Season, we visited Lindytown for the Appalachia Rising episode and discussed in great detail the toll that the town, and the surrounding area, had taken and continues to take as a result of mountain top removal mining.

The thing that really stood out to us at SOTRU, was learning of the passing of Lawrence Richmond who so graciously invited us into his home and spoke to us during the recording of the episode. Rest in peace Lawrence and our deepest sympathies to the Richmond family.

Radio Producer Tina Antolini’s post from October of 2010, about her time in Appalachia seemed appropriate to share upon hearing this news:

Abandoned Home in Lindytown, WV

We all know what it’s like to be homesick—that bittersweet pang of longing for a place so familiar it feels part of us. Estranged from it, at certain moments it seems almost as if we are estranged from ourselves. But what’s it like to feel homesick when you’ve never left home? When, instead, your home has changed around you? (more…)

Can’t you picture it? Jobs and Renewable Energy walking into the sunset hand in hand. Maybe The Beach Boys “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” playing.

Well, you can’t simply create jobs out of the ether. And how long can we afford to put off the vital environmental work that needs to be done? Hold the phone (does anybody say that anymore?), there are organizations meeting both needs?

“Renewable Energy Development in Central Appalachia” is the tagline of The JOBS Project, Inc., an organization that is creating awareness, ownership and employment in the renewable energy field. It’s no great mystery that if there is going to be any type of real energy sustainability in the United States, we have to welcome renewable energy alternatives. In particular, the people that live in coal producing states know the first-hand effects of practices like mountain-top removal mining, but also know better than anybody that something has to give.

Framing this concern along the lines of political pugilism has only stifled progress and caused unnecessary division. But with the current state of the economy and soaring gas prices, how can we deny that organizations like The JOBS Project are creating real, pragmatic solutions that treat landowners with the respect they deserve, the environment with the care it needs, all while creating good paying jobs?

Solar, wind, biopower and energy efficiency–not a single one of these is a silver bullet on its own, but you smartly implement them all . . . sha-zam! And no one solution is perfect, but nobody can deny that your can harness the power of wind and the sun to create power. Just think, both are there for free, a virtual buffet of renewable energy resources.

Visit The JOBS Project, Inc. to learn more about who they are, what they do and how they do it. I’m sure you will find their work substantive and completely applicable to the needs of the real word, not just empty platitudes and grandiose, improbable concepts.

We Want to Know:

• Do you know about organizations that are making efforts to solve multiple issues with pragmatic solutions?
• What do you think of The JOBS Project, Inc.?

While officials from The JOBS Project, Inc. were not featured in our Appalachia episode, “Appalachia Rising,” you can hear about the renewable energy efforts that they have inspired in the area.

LISTEN TO OUR NEWEST EPISODE HERE!

Downtown Williamson, West Virginia

In coal country, environmental issues are often represented as a battle in which for one side to win and the other to lose. You’re either for coal or against it. You’re either with the “tree-hugging environmentalists,” or with the miners. Well, on SOTRU’s recent trip to Appalachia, we heard about one town in West Virginia that’s finding a compromise in that normally polarizing debate. (more…)

Rural Appalachia has long been portrayed in the media as a place of victims: people at the mercy of the region’s poverty or bigotry. In this episode, SOTRU turns that notion of Appalachia on its head, telling stories of residents fighting for the well-being of their land, people and culture. We travel to southern West Virginia, where former coal miners and their families are fighting mountain-top removal mining and a small town is reinventing itself. Then, we visit Eastern Kentucky, where a community radio show has inspired an outpouring of activism.

To discuss this episode, please comment on this post. We would love to hear your thoughts. Start the discussion!