Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will, but also nature” . The Appalachian region is home to one of the oldest and most biologically diverse mountain systems on the continent. Tragically, mountaintop removal mining has already destroyed more than 500 mountains encompassing more than 1 million acres of central and southern Appalachia. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia,Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Because the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977 does not require coal companies to reforest the land as part their post-mining reclamation work, the previously lush terrain is replaced by flat fields where the traditional Appalachian forests take thousands of years to grow back, if they ever do (EPA). This means not only lost wildlife habitat, but also the steady disappearance of a forest system that naturally captures and holds carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. “when nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain this has serious consequences on
Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will, but also nature” . The Appalachian region is home to one of the oldest and most biologically diverse mountain systems on the continent. Tragically, mountaintop removal mining has already destroyed more than 500 mountains encompassing more than 1 million acres of central and southern Appalachia. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia,Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Because the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977 does not require coal companies to reforest the land as part their post-mining reclamation work, the previously lush terrain is replaced by flat fields where the traditional Appalachian forests take thousands of years to grow back, if they ever do (EPA). This means not only lost wildlife habitat, but also the steady disappearance of a forest system that naturally captures and holds carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. “when nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain this has serious consequences on