Mountain Keepers Stir Detroit

Written by Event Planner Tom Costello



Amber & Larry Speaking Out in Detroit

When I began to publicize Larry Gibson’s speaking in Detroit, many people asked me why he would come here and what does Detroit have to do with mountaintop removal.  My response was that every time you turn that light switch on or plug your laptop to charge it, you run a direct line from that socket to that coal-burning power plant to a coal mine in Appalachia.  Specifically, that coal comes from a mountaintop removal mine. 

If one types in a Detroit area zip code on the Appalachia Watch website, you will trace that coal burned in Detroit to a mountaintop removal mine.  In the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.   So we in Detroit or wherever we live need to educate ourselves on this every important issue and support Larry’s and others’ efforts to end it. 

Larry Gibson and Amber Whittington not only discussed “what” mountaintop removal mining is in Appalachia, but they made an impassioned statement that these acts of destruction impact human lives, a culture and the land itself.   If you have the opportunity to bring Larry and his colleagues to your hometown or school, I encourage you to do so.  Others need to know what is being done to the mountains and people of Appalachia.