victoria@verglasmedia.com

This essay from 2000 amounts to a depopulation plan for southern West Virginia

When I first read this document 18 years ago, it infuriated me. Starting on page 13, the essay includes points that amount to a depopulation plan for southern West Virginia. I think it infuriates me even more now, after everything that’s happened since then that has continued to run our people out of their ancestral home places.  We truly …

This essay from 2000 amounts to a depopulation plan for southern West Virginia Read More »

National Recognized Activists “Infuriated” at Bloomberg-Backed Coal Documentary

Source:  Mother Jones Community FoundationNEWS RELEASEFor immediate releaseContact: Maria Gunnoe: info@motherjoneswv.org 304-989-9581  “From the Ashes,” a new documentary on the coal industry directed by Michael Bonfiglio, distributed by National Geographic and funded by former New York City Mayor and one-time presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, is drawing bitter opposition from environmentalists, mountaintop removal opponents, Appalachian community activists and coal …

National Recognized Activists “Infuriated” at Bloomberg-Backed Coal Documentary Read More »

Resources: Health Disparities were shown to be connected to Mountaintop Removal

Our team and our community members have participated in scientific studies that have given us reports on the devastating effects of mountaintop removal on human health. The Health Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining PDF Birth defects study: More inconvenient facts about the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining LINK New study details strip mining air pollution …

Resources: Health Disparities were shown to be connected to Mountaintop Removal Read More »

What is Black Lung Disease?

Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease or black lung, is caused by long-term exposure to coal dust. It is common in coal miners and others who work with coal. It is similar to both silicosis from inhaling silica dust and asbestosis from inhaling asbestos dust. Inhaled coal dust progressively builds up in …

What is Black Lung Disease? Read More »

What is Mountaintop Removal?

Mountaintop removal coal mining, often described as “strip mining on steroids,” is an extremely destructive form of mining that is devastating Appalachia. In the past few decades, over 2,500 miles of headwater streams that provide drinking water for millions of people have been destroyed permanently. An area the size of Delaware has been flattened. Local communities routinely face devastating floods and adverse …

What is Mountaintop Removal? Read More »

Who is Mother Jones?

Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She helped coordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1871 Jones, the widow of an iron-moulder who had died in …

Who is Mother Jones? Read More »

Films

The Appalachians The Appalachians is a three hour film on the history of the Appalachians and its people told in story and song. The Appalachian mountains have been called America’s “first frontier”. The story of the brave pioneers who settled this great wilderness is the story of America: immigration, settlement, the Revolution and Civil wars, …

Films Read More »