Posts By This Author

Beyond Shopping and Leather Pants

by Elizabeth Newberry 03-01-2001

David LaMotte's sixth album fills the void left by sentimental, synthesizer-laden Christian pop-rock and modern rock lyrics about shopping, leather pants, and next year's Infiniti model.

New and Noteworthy

by Molly Marsh, by Elizabeth Newberry 01-01-2001

Almost Heaven

by Elizabeth Newberry 11-01-2000

Interstate 77 winds around the mountains of Bland County like lifelines on the palm of my hand. I cross through the Big Walker Mountain tunnel and know I am home.

Bringing people together

by Elizabeth Newberry, by Beth Isaacson 11-01-2000

Employment Opportunities

  • Christians for Peace in El Salvador (CRISPAZ) seeks U.S.

Connections

by Elizabeth Newberry 09-01-2000
Bringing people together.

Poets Turned Prophets

by Elizabeth Newberry 09-01-2000

Affrilachian Poets claim the space between two worlds.

Connections

by Elizabeth Newberry 07-01-2000
Bringing people together.

Where Credit is Due

by Elizabeth Newberry 07-01-2000

How many colleges does it take to change a community?

Attention or Exploitation?

by Elizabeth Newberry 07-01-2000

What is the proper role of the filmmaker?

Connections

by Elizabeth Newberry 05-01-2000
Bringing people together.

Taking Action: 16 Tons and What Do You Get?

by Elizabeth Newberry 05-01-2000
Citizens call a new tune.

If Tennessee Ernie Ford were to sing his blue-collar anthem "Sixteen Tons and What Do You Get?" to the residents of the coal fields of Kentucky and West Virginia, they would answer: property damage, dried up wells, respiratory illness, and explosions 100 times more powerful than the Oklahoma City bombing.

The latest technique in strip mining—mountaintop removal—involves detonating explosives to blow apart the top 1,000 acres of a mountain and using a dragline (a mammoth bulldozer) to dig away the soil and reveal seams of coal. The excess dirt is then deposited in valley fills, mountain streams that support the regional ecosystems as well as providing area residents with a source of water.

This is the latest of the ongoing battles for economic survival in the mountain communities of central Appalachia. In the last 40 years, the number of coal-industry jobs in coal-rich states such as West Virginia has dropped from 138,000 to 16,000, while the amount of coal mined annually is the highest ever. With the steady decline in jobs and the increase in the threat to the visual legacy of the mountains, citizens are fighting to take back their mountains—and their futures.

In Harlan County, Kentucky, citizens organized a local chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) to stop mountaintop removal. Robert Gipe, an organizer with KFTC, said the group asked themselves what the pivotal issue was. "We found a strategy that gives citizens something to do," Gipe said. They drafted a "Lands Unsuitable for Mining" petition to declare Black Mountain a public land trust. By focusing their efforts around protecting the state’s highest peak, the group was able to draw greater public attention to the extent of mountaintop removal in eastern Kentucky.

Prodding the Spirit

by Elizabeth Newberry 03-01-2000

The searching words of Ben Harper

Bringing people together.

by Elizabeth Newberry 03-01-2000

Employment Opportunities

Connections

by Elizabeth Newberry 01-01-2000
Bringing people together.

Setting a Global Table

by Elizabeth Newberry 01-01-2000

Judy Wicks sees her restaurant, the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia, as an experiment in bringing business and social responsibility together.

Bringing people together

by Rachel Thomas, by Elizabeth Newberry 11-01-1999

Covenant House Faith Community, a Christian community committed to prayer, community, and service, seeks full-time volunteers to work with homeless youth for a 13-month commitment.