Resources

Grassroots Groups

West Virginia:

Kentucky:

Virginia:

Tennessee:

Regional:

Youth:

Books

  • Coal River by Michael Shnayerson
  • Big Coal by Jeff Goodell (analysis of modern day coal industry)
  • The Appalachians: America's First and Last Frontier edited by Holly George-Warren (history)
  • Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese (global history of coal)
  • Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina (fiction based on actual events leading up to the Battle of Blair Mtn.)
  • Unquiet Earth by Denise Giardina (fiction based on actual events leading up to the Buffalo Creek Disaster)
  • Life Work & Rebellion in the Southern West Virginia Coalfields by David Allen Corbin (radical history of WV Mine Wars)
  • When Miners March by William Blizzard (Overview of events leading up to the Battle of Blair Mtn.)
  • To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia by Chad Montrie (Focus on anti-strip mining organizing in 1960s & 70s)
  • Appalachia: A History by John Williams (history)
  • Voices From the Mountains: The People of Appalachia-Their Faces, Their Words, Their Songs collected and recorded by Guy and Candie Carawan (songbook + history)
  • Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields: The Southern West Virginia Miners, 1880-1922 by David A. Corbin

Movies

  • Matewan (awesome feature length movie about events leading up to the Matewan Massacre of 1920)
  • Black Diamonds (General overview of various views on mountaintop removal)
  • Razing Appalachia (General overview of various views on mountaintop removal from 1999, shortly after the Haden decision)
  • The Appalachians (Historical documentary of Appalachia) Mucked (Documentary about the disasters of the 2001 floods)
  • Mountain Mourning (Made by Christians for the Mountains, looks at the effects of mountaintop removal from a faith based perspective)
  • Out of Darkness (Chronicle of the UMWA formation viewed through the lens of the miners of the Pittson strike)
  • The Adventures of a Radical Hillbilly (interview with Myles Horton of the Highlander Center, has amazing insight into social justice work)
  • Sludge (Documentary of 2000 Martin County, KY sludge dam disaster)
  • Harlan County, USA (Documentary about the 1972 Harlan County, KY strikes and the Miners for Democracy Movement within the UMWA)
  • Coal Bucket Outlaw (Chronicles coal truck drivers who are being forced to drive overweight coal trucks, shows intersection between working class people and corporate greed)
  • Kilowatt Ours (Documentary about the externalities of electricity production and encouragement towards energy efficiency/renewable energy)
  • Thoughts On The Presence of Fear (Essay from Wendell Berry set to the visuals of an active strip mining site)
  • Bringing Down The Mountains (Short film that gives mountaintop removal facts and shows interviews with affected residents)

Websites

Series of news articles on mountaintop removal

 

Student Environmental Action Coalition

South Energy Network

Energy Action Coalition

Coal River Mountain Watch

Energy Justice Network

Mountain Peoples Market Co-op

Rainforest Action Network

Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Souther Appalachian Mountain Stewards

Mountain Justice Summer

Emory & Henry