Mountaintop Removal

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.

I believe in people (Berstein 19). I believe there is good in every human being because of the choice we have between right and wrong (19). In “The Mountain Disappears”, Leonard Bernstein tells us that it is what we choose to do with that free will is what defines us. Something that we need to believe in is love. Love is a commitment and teaches us how to be passionate about something that makes us a better person. I believe that every single one of us has the ability to change and that when we change, we have great potential (19-20). Everyone has the potential to make a difference in the world. I believe in the attainability of good (21). We all have it, so why don’t we use it?

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.

Many companies have made money from the coal industry; however, the money has not stayed within the state. Big businesses have exploited the resources creating rich executives and leaving the Appalachian area stripped of its bounty. Currently, big businesses are involved in mountain-top removal to remove resources from our mountains. This leaves many of the beautiful mountains destroyed, pollutes the water systems and kills the wildlife and vegetation. The coal industry which once supported many families in the Appalachian area is now becoming the downfall of our tourist

Are you for coal or against coal? Maybe better yet, are you for the preservation of the mountains and nature or are you against it? These questions held such a deep meaning and understanding that on the surface seemed immaterial to large corporations such as the Coal Mining Industry or political leaders within the State of West Virginia. Combating Mountaintop Removal by Bryan McNeil gives us the views of what it looks like from a grassroots environmental activist within the West Virginia coal country. In the book you see how the social and moral arguments are framed from different agents such as the Ant-MTRM (Mountain top removal) organization, the Coal Miners and Union works, to the Coal Mining Companies, and finally the State through political

Surface mining began to replace traditional underground mining around WWII (Bozzi 116). Rather than digging into the mountain to extract the coal, strip mining involves removing the overlying soil and rock that covers the coal deposits (Lutz 1). It seemed appealing at first because the previous known dangers of black-lung disease and cave-ins were now limited with the surface mining method (Bozzi 116). However, surface mining came with it’s own problems, a lot of them being more serious and irreversible than underground mining (Allen 182). This method of surface mining was the spark that created the trend of mountaintop removal (Bozzi 117). Mountaintop removal is the complete destruction of the mountain peak in order to reach coal

The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range in the eastern part of North America. The origin of the mountain ranges name came about when “Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were exploring the Florida coast in 1528, they found a Native American town with a name they transliterated as Apalachen. The word ‘Apalachen’ was also applied to an inland mountain range, and through the course of time it became applied to the entire range and its spelling was changed” (“Appalachian Mountains”).

Coal mining, in particular, strip mining has become the latest casualty of the growing green movement in the United States. What is strip mining? Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines strip mining as the removal of vegetation, soil, and rock above a layer of coal, followed by the removal of the coal itself (“strip”). Most Americans don’t realize the impact this material of biological origin that can be used as a source of energy (“fossil”), or fossil fuel, has on their everyday lives or the nation’s economy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the mining industry directly employs some fifty thousand Americans with nearly half that number working in the more specific field of strip mining, or mountain top removal

According to “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” by Martin Luther King and “The Talented Tenth” by W.E.B DuBois, who was the most successful at getting you to understand the fight for social justice and equality? How does the author enhance their audience’s understanding of their argument by using the rhetorical devices? To begin with, M.L.K and W.E.B uses the rhetorical device to emphasize what they desire us to understand the fight for equality and social justice. What does equality and social justice means? Equality is when you assumes everyone is the same. They has the same talents or ability as others. Social justice is the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.

Some scientists estimate that the last eruption of Mt. Scenery probably took place just before the European settlement of Saba island, dating back to about 1640. Presence of hot springs or heated groundwater indicates

Despite his original intent to motivate a crowd of striking sanitation workers, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” served as his final words of support and encouragement to a nation still struggling with social problems and to future advocates of social justice and change. The rhetoric behind “Mountaintop” reveals King as a humble yet forthright and intelligent speaker whose convincing arguments and powerful voice directed his listeners to action. Under the “five canons of rhetoric”-invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery- “Mountaintop” is truly a captivating speech and an essential piece to understanding King’s legacy.

The process of mountaintop removal is a drawn out process that eventually leaves the earth it is leveling unusable. First, the mountain is cleared of trees, plants, and topsoil. The trees below are often cleared as well to make room for the rubble that will take their place. The next step involves blasting the top of the mountain. “Ammonium nitrate explosives” are used to “blast through up to 1,000 feet of the mountain in order to access coal seams” (The Destructive Process of Mountaintop Removal). During this time dust and toxic chemicals like silica, fall over surrounding areas sometimes even neighborhoods and communities. As noted before, silica is known to cause the lung disease silicosis, so it is disturbing that one of these removal sites is within several hundred yards of an elementary school (Hoffman). After blasting, the coal companies dig through the debris with enormous machines. The

I believe it is appropriate for preachers should address political and social issue in black churches. Simply because speaking on such topic bring awareness to their congregation. Many church members are not always aware of what is going on politically and socially in the world. Therefore, by preachers speaking on this topic in church will make members more alert of these issues. It will also make their congregation more knowledgeable about the topic. I believe that the church has the platform and right to speak on those topics. It is also important that if the preacher addresses political and social issue it should relate to their sermons, so the topic cannot take away from the message that is being delivered to their congregation. When preachers

The physical world of the play The Mountaintop is confined to one small hotel room, so it is interior and built. The action takes place in a hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee, which tells us that this space was built. There also is natural weather outside because it is raining heavily outside. We know this because whenever Camae, the maid, comes through the door, heavy rain is falling and sounds of thunder and lightning are presented. The whole play takes real time and does not have any changes of scenery or blackouts until the end. Time moves slow in this script because a lot of conversation is happening, not much action. The play is both easy going on time and not easy going on time. The fact that Camae says she needs to leave, tries to leave once, Mr. King is waiting on his friend to bring his cigarettes, and how quickly some of the conversations happen shows that the play can be short on time. It is leisurely easy-going on time though because once they begin to talk, they are in no rush and have detailed conversations, almost as if they do not want the conversations to end. The mood changes throughout this play. At first, a subtle/relaxed mood can be portrayed, but towards the middle and end of the play a more intense vibe can be given because of how sudden things start to happen, like when Mr. King thinks Camae was sent to spy on him. Mr. King says on page 55, “I said GET OUT! Coming in here tempting me!” (Hall 55)

There are many types of mountains that are found all over the world. One type of mountain is call a folded mountain. Folded mountains are different from other mountains by the way they are formed and their parts. The forming process of a folded mountain is unique.