Joliet, IL, May 22, 2010

 

When most of us flip a light switch, we don’t think about where the power comes from. That’s about to change, as this eye-opening book details how coal is removed from mountaintops, devastating families and communities in the Appalachian Mountains. Flooding, air and water pollution, health problems and global warming all follow use of coal to generate electricity. For instance, students attending Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Va., breathe coal dust and chemicals from a coal processing plant that has a sludge pond four football fields away from the school. The pond holds almost three billion gallons of hazardous sludge. Scientists have found more than 90 percent of the families of the school’s 230 students have a child with asthma or chronic bronchitis.

The school’s story is just one snapshot of the consequences of this method of coal mining. Stunning color photos throughout the book showcase not only the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains but also the devastation wrought by this type of mining. Mountaintop removal coal mining, which began in the 1970s, happens when coal company workers blast mountaintops with explosives to mine coal below the mountains. Soil and rock from the mountaintops are dumped into nearby streams and valleys. When the raw coal is washed, the runoff water becomes toxic and must be stored in sludge ponds.

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining, published by Dog Ear Publishing, is not all gloom and doom. Reader-friendly, it also provides suggestions on how everyone can make changes in their lives to prevent further destruction of the country’s mountains and to make their voices heard. Information on solar power, wind power, hydropower and geothermal power and conservation further inform readers about how they can reduce their footprint on the region.

The target audience for this book is students from upper elementary through middle school, although the gravity of the issue and the directness of the information make it a timely and important read for all ages.

Author Jenifer Yoder Garlitz has a personal stake in this topic, having grown up in southwestern Pennsylvania in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. In addition to working as a reading specialist with the Plainfield School District, she leads an environment club for fifth-graders.

For more information, visit www.mountaintopbook.com .

 

(The author is the wife of Peace and Social Justice Ministry Director Tom Garlitz.)