Visiting West Virginia and watching “The Last Mountain” shared the life experience of people living in area of mountaintop coal removal. In class we were first introduced to the lives of West Virginia's through the film, which did an amazing job showing the lives of family that have lived there for generations, the massive explosions of MTR, the effects of Massey Coal company, the schools, and all the protests. The film was able to capture many different perspective in one film. It is clear to see the difficulty of the community of West Virginia fighting back for their sense of democracy because of their contaminated water. In the movie, important figures such as Robert Kennedy Jr were introduced asking “how can massey coal have 6000 violations
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Physically going to West Virginia only strengthen the urgency of abandoning mountaintop coal removal by giving the students a more living representation of what was happening. We were able to see,with our own eyes, the contaminated water, the destroyed mountains, and the villages living between mountains that doomed to floods.Organization like the friends of the mountain did a better job providing water for the people of West Virginia than the Red Cross when the coal companies contaminated the waters. One of the most prevalent story of the trip was the story of Dustin’s Father. He was everything a “man” should be according to the locals. He was a veteran who serve for his country, he was a coal miner, he paid his taxes, and never caused troubles. He obtained black lungs from working so heavily in the mines. Sadly, like his own father, Dustin’s grandfather only made it to his 60. In the very last days of his life, water was not available. Dustin struggled to bathe his father and give him basic comfort. Now Dustin also fear he will only make it to 60 year of age because of his hereditary. Injustice was a common theme in all of the stories we hear and witness from our trip. No matter how “in line” you were as a citizen or miner, you were still just a part of a collective collateral damage for the coal industry and
Physically going to West Virginia only strengthen the urgency of abandoning mountaintop coal removal by giving the students a more living representation of what was happening. We were able to see,with our own eyes, the contaminated water, the destroyed mountains, and the villages living between mountains that doomed to floods.Organization like the friends of the mountain did a better job providing water for the people of West Virginia than the Red Cross when the coal companies contaminated the waters. One of the most prevalent story of the trip was the story of Dustin’s Father. He was everything a “man” should be according to the locals. He was a veteran who serve for his country, he was a coal miner, he paid his taxes, and never caused troubles. He obtained black lungs from working so heavily in the mines. Sadly, like his own father, Dustin’s grandfather only made it to his 60. In the very last days of his life, water was not available. Dustin struggled to bathe his father and give him basic comfort. Now Dustin also fear he will only make it to 60 year of age because of his hereditary. Injustice was a common theme in all of the stories we hear and witness from our trip. No matter how “in line” you were as a citizen or miner, you were still just a part of a collective collateral damage for the coal industry and