Figure 9.30 (Eve’s Photo of an Empty Coal Train)

Eve, American

Figure 9.30 (Eve’s Photo of an Empty Coal Train)

This photo ties together MTR’s impact on the economy, nature, and the day-to-day lives of local people. The photo shows a coal train going past with no coal on it while in the distance is a bare mountain that has been subjected to MTR. To the right side is a home, localizing the scene. The empty train gives a sense of the economic devastation of the region as people have lost jobs and have been forced to leave the region as MTR has become the dominant form of coal mining. While not shown, the coal extracted from MTR is now transported by trucks on local roads, a dangerous practice that has caused many accidents, something deeply felt in this local context. Presented by a local woman at a community meeting, this photo asks other local women to critically consider the tolls of MTR on their safety, their community, and the natural world. Label by Caitlin Blomo

Only God Should Move Mountains. Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining of the Appalachians

LEAF (Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship), American

Natural Resources Defense Council, American

Only God Should Move Mountains. Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining of the Appalachians, 2009

LEAF, a small Tennessee-based environmental coalition used this advertisement to promote their work of mobilizing Christians against mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. The text of their message is clear and accompanies a prominent image on the left side of the billboard of an autumn dusk in the mountains. The otherwise idyllic image is interrupted by a gulf in the center of the image where blasted rock and roads have destroyed and displaced the mountains. Though this image does not treat the more dire human costs of mountaintop removal, it is notable that no human beings are present in the image. This billboard serves as a direct counter to coal-industry messaging (also commonly using billboards) that coal extraction provides jobs. Mountaintop removal provides polluting fossil fuel not without first destroying mountains and creating toxic byproducts that pollute community water supplies and for whose benefit? Label by Morgan Brittain

Untitled

Justin Renteria, American

Untitled, 2018

While this piece is not a direct photograph of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, it certainly resembles one. Images of the impact of mountaintop removal share striking similarities to this artistic interpretation of a mining area, devoid of color, splattered with thick oil, seemingly encroaching on the lush surrounding forests. The impact of coal mining in Appalachia is not dissimilar to this physical landscape. As increased environmental degradation has occurred, these energy industries not only strip natural environments of their resources, they strip the land of its color, both figuratively and literally. Not only are mountain tops and forests turned into dreary wastelands, the surrounding communities are stripped of their cultural connections to the lands that they have inhabited for generations, and non-human animal habitats and ecosystems are decimated. The beauty of the nature of the landscapes and the beauty of the human and non-human animals that reside within them are quickly being destroyed by the expansion of these industries. The priority of the industry is exclusively economic growth and development. All other considerations are rendered irrelevant to the progress of the American economy, regardless of the amount of “color” that is stripped from these regions in the process.  Label by Gwyneth McCrae

Sludge Creek

Cynthia Ryan Kelly, American

Sludge Creek, 2006

Cynthia Ryan Kelly is an artist whose works are narrative, colorful, and spontaneous works that aim to weave social commentary into her compositions. This piece comes from Kelly’s “Stories about Mountain Top Removal” series. Kelly attaches a quick statement to the piece; “Seemingly neutral people shake hands, make deals and destroy creation.” Through the saturated colors and contrasting black coal sludge, a sense of toxicity and almost grotesque mood is given.  Kelly uses this piece to comment on the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining on communities surrounding those areas. Human figures are shown drudging through what is coal waste, while a mountain above their homes seems to be blown up, illustrating how the process of extracting coal to fulfill capitalist demands destroys the lives of those who live in the ecosystem with the coal. Label by Isabel Schreur