An Introduction to Mountaintop Removal

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - courtesy of Dave Cooper and the Mountaintop Removal Road Show

Dave and his Mountaintop Removal Road Show have toured the United States since 2003, speaking to large and small universities, churches, and civic organizations. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Dave combined his experience with public presentations and his intimate knowledge of mountaintop removal coal mining to create these lesson plans for grades 7-12. Complementing the lesson plans are links to video and web resources, including his stunning 20-minute slide show about the impacts of mountaintop removal on coalfield residents, communities and the environment.

Gorilla in the Greenhouse

For grade school children - courtesy of Kate Catlin of the Earth Day Network and SustainLane Productions

We think you'll love these children's resources from Gorilla in the Greenhouse. They weave fun, vision and adventure with education about the environment using video, print material, and even blogs. They encourage kids to take small steps to big change, and feature the actions kids can take on the environment in in their videos.

Video

Turn it Up Day - The kids discover where their power comes from, do internet and database research, save a mountain, and make a difference in their community, all in 8 minutes!

Lesson Plans

Here is a great lesson plan about Mountaintop removal, coal and energy efficiency. The lesson will inform students about coal mining and its connection to energy use, while empowering them to reduce energy in their own lives.

Coloring Activities

Bucket; Cypher; Scoot; Socket; Gorilla Gang

Blog lessons

Learn; Energy saving lessons for your bedroom; Tips for energy efficiency; Decipher your energy bill; Installing weatherstipping; Efficient light bulbs; Contact your Senators; Finding air leaks; Energy vampires; Insulated glass windows; Starting an energy efficency club at school

Mountaintop removal role playing

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - courtesy of Julian Martin

Julian is a West Virginia native whose grandpa fought in the battle of Blair Mountain, and who’s father was a union coal miner. Julian worked a variety of careers, including chemical and rocket engineer as well as a high school chemistry and physics teacher. He’s spent a lifetime helping others, and occasionally tours the US giving talks about the ill effects of mountaintop removal coal mining.

Julian developed this exercise to involve his students in a real life conflict caused by surface mining. As actors in the simulation, students must put aside their opinions to play each character. In doing so, they will better understand the complex effects of moutaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

Journey Up Coal River

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - courtesy of Aurora Lights

Journey Up Coal River is an important and extensive snapshot of the past, present, and future of the Coal River Valley in southern West Virginia.

Allthough it contains extensive lesson plans, its much more than that. It's an interactive mapping project that combines music, audio, photography and the written word to tell the story of people of all ages.

PayPal ordering for Still Moving Mountains: The Journey Home is now available.

Companion CD

Still Moving Mountains: The Journey Home, features additional music and interviews with contributions from Kathy Mattea, The Del McCoury Band and many others.

Project components

Lesson plans

Additional Resources

Themes

Home

Coal River 101

Coal River Mountain

Hazy and Shumate

Prenter Hollow

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Wind

Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship

For all ages - courtesy of Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship

LEAF was established by members of Church of the Savior, United Church of Christ, in Knoxville, TN as a memorial to Kathy Lindquist’s deep religious faith and her dedication to environmental stewardship. LEAF offers a multitude of educational resources for all ages:

Creation Care Materials

Visit this page to request a copy of the book Serve God, Save the Planet, By Matthew Sleeth, M.D., the DVD Mountain Mourning (produced by Christians for the Mountains in West Virginia) and Kilowatt Ours, by Nashville filmmaker, Jeff Barrie.

For children

A lesson for young children that explains the process and consequence of surface mining.

for youth

An inspiring true story about a 7th grade class in Harlan, KY who saved Kentucky's highest peak, Black Mountain, from mountaintop removal mining.

for adults

A collection of three news articles pertinent to surface mining in Tennessee.

RENEWAL - a documentary about todays religious-environmental activists

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - courtesy of The Renewal Project

From within their Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Muslim traditions, Americans are becoming caretakers of the Earth. Their stories of combating global warming and the devastation of mountaintop removal, of promoting food security, environmental justice, recycling, land preservation, and of teaching love and respect for life on Earth are the heart of RENEWAL.

The 90-minute documentary is designed for theatrical and community screenings, and for broadcast, yet each of Renewal's eight stories also stands on its own.

VIDEO

In the opening episode, "A Crime Against Creation", you'll watch an ecumenical gathering of witness and resistance to the practice of mountaintop removal in the hills of Appalachia in Eastern Kentucky. Christians of different denominations travel to Appalachia to learn about how large mountainous areas are destroyed in order to extract coal. The religious leaders on this tour bear witness to the ways the destruction of God's creation leads to the degradation of human health.

other resources

In addition to the video, the Renewal Project offers a multitude of educational resources:

Discussion materials for "A Crime Against Creation" - background info, books, magazines, web links, and discussion questions

Introduction to educational materials found on the site

Additional resources - links to information about Ministry and Advocacy, Sermons, Scripture and Sacred Text, Worship and Ritual, Seasons and Holy Days, as well as Theology & Ethics.

The Mountain Mourning DVD Collection

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - Courtesy of Christians for the Mountains and B. J. Gudmundsson

Each film in the collection affirms the beauty of creation and portrays the human experience in the coal-rich regions of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Stunning images and traditional Appalachian music call forth an awareness of the unsustainable devastation caused by destructive mining practices, which threatens all but the human spirit.

'Mountain Mourning' calls upon Christians and their churches to summons moral courage and effective advocacy that will bring healing and justice to this land and its people. Produced by B. J. Gudmundsson, West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year 2005

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: Why Mountains Are Going Missing and What We Can Do About It

For upper elementary through middle school students - Courtesy of Jenifer Garlitz

Jenifer grew up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania. Presently she lives in Illinois and has worked as an elementary school Title I Reading Teacher and a reading specialist for over ten years. She especially enjoys reading books about nature, wildlife, and environmental issues with her students. For two years she searched for a book on mountaintop removal coal mining to read with her students. Finally she decided to write her own book on the topic.

“Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining,” explains the effects of coal mining on the Appalachian Mountains. Jenifer wrote the book to show the cause and effect relationship between the mountaintop removal coal mining and deforestation, flooding, global warming and increased mercury levels in fish. 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.

Reader-friendly, the text 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. The author states, “I hope my book teaches young people that they can have a positive impact on our environment by conserving energy, recycling and working to change practices that are environmentally harmful.”

Coal, Climate Change, and Appalachian History

For all ages

Randy Wilson is a native of the mountains of eastern Kentucky and continues the storytelling and music traditions of this culturally rich region. Well know as multi-instrumentalist, dance caller and storyteller, he's performed at festivals and schools around the world.

Randy has a knack for teaching young people the traditional songs, dances and stories of Appalachia and engaging them in telling and performing their own stories. He is currently is the director of the Folk Arts Education Program at Hindman Settlement School.

for children

Kids Radio! on WMMT-FM - This show features kids from Eastern Kentucky telling tales, making music, doing interviews and having a big old time! Browse WMMT's audio archives to download shows.

Voice recordings - Appalachian Reader: A Primer from the Mountains - Audio of stories written and read by students at James Still Learning Center, Fall 2008.

Video - Coal and Climate Change. Lean what Scientists do, and how they use scientific methods to learn about global warming.

Audio recording - Stream Ecology. Recorded at Table Rock State Park in South Carolina

ALL AGES

Voice recordings - Oral histories recorded at the Knott County Senior Citizens Center in eastern Kentucky. Part of Hindman Settlement School's Folk Arts Education program.

Music - Folk song samplers sung by participants in Hindman Settlement School's Folk Arts Education program.

Voice recordings - Children of Coal, Children of the Sun. Stories by 5th and 8th graders in Kentucky who's lives are shaped by coal mining and solar energy collection.

Mountaintop Removal Task Force

For early college students - courtesy of Adam Wells

Adam Wells graduated from Appalachian State University's Watauga College in 2007. During his time there, he designed and taught this course about mountaintop removal coal mining, which satisfies the service learning requirement for the Contextures class.

Adam is currently a community organizer with the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.

Appalachian Treasures Multimedia Package

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - courtesy of Appalachian Voices

The Appalachian Treasures project was launched by Appalachian Voices in 2005 to raise awareness of the suffering and devastation occuring in the communities of Appalachia. They send a full time field organizer out on the road, along with volunteers from Appalachia’s coalfields, and together they travel the country building a national network of people who will work together to end mountaintop removal coal mining.

At the heart of this effort is “Appalachian Treasures,” a multimedia presentation that features photos that capture the beauty of Appalachia along with disturbing shots of flattened moonscape mining sites, voice recordings of neighbors and friends recounting the daily struggles of life in the coalfields, and traditional music of Appalachia. This amazing presentation leaves a powerful, lasting impression of the beauty and the richness of the culture and heritage of Appalachia, as well as the needless devastation caused by mountaintop removal coal mining.

Order the FREE action kit by emailing outreach@appvoices.org or calling (828) 262-1500.

Kilowatt Ours Youth Initiative

For junior high, high school, college students, and adults - courtesy of Jennifer Barrie, Youth Initiative Director

YOUTH INITIATIVE CURRICULUM

Kilowatt Ours ‘Youth Initiative’ is an award-winning program that trains students to become energy conservation leaders in their homes, schools, and communities. The program provides standards-based curriculum materials and resources, teacher training workshops, and a peer education program.

The peer education component prepares local university students to be energy leaders and serve as role models by presenting the program to high school and middle, and elementary school classes.

COMPANION DVD

The curriculum, presentations, and workshops connect directly to the film, Kilowatt Ours: A Plan to Re-Energize America. The DVD includes:

TEACHERS FORUM

An online forum where you can share ideas and success stories with other teachers & students who are using this program.

Go Green Teachers Resources

For all ages

Students, teachers, administrators, and environmental activists have found ways to integrate knowledge and awareness of Earth's fragility into classwork and community service, carefully blending concern with action to help kids feel engaged and hopeful.

Go Green does the same thing with their database. Its a directory you can search by topic, grade level, cost, or location. You can also contribute YOUR materials to the community.

Here is the main page. We also recommend searching for the keyword "coal".

EnergyHog.org

For all ages - courtesy of The Alliance to Save Energy

The Energy Hog campaign was founded by Energy Outreach Colorado, the Colorado Governor's Energy Office (GEO) and the Ad Council. The Energy Hog Public Service Advertising campaign ran for four years and ended in August 2008.

Currently, the Energy Hog mascot travels to schools across the U.S. to educate elementary students about the importance of saving energy.

for children

The Energy Hog Challenge is a set of classroom activities that guide children through lessons about different sources of energy, how we use energy at home, and how to "bust energy hogs" to save energy. Each student can become an Official Energy Hog Buster upon completion of the lessons. It covers the subject areas of Science, Math, Technology, Language Arts and Social Studies and meets national learning standards.

Adults

Saving Energy Saves Money - Use these tools to assess your home’s energy usage and costs and to identify specific energy efficiency measures appropriate to reduce your home energy bills.