Present Environmental Tragedy
 

I've been reading recently about this appalling display of greed and carelessness, and the story so far has been by far one of the most depressing things to come about this year (within America, at least), though the practice is decades old. It is the institution of mountaintop removal coal (mostly) mining:

Mountaintop removal mining - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Where's America's "liberal" media now? :(

I hear/have heard virtually nothing about this (and countless similar travesties) on any television news network or in any major news publications (a rare ditty in The Week or something aside, and believe me I've been looking :uhoh:). Who's talking about it? Shouldn't somebody? After all, it is sort of completely destroying swaths of wilderness in the Eastern US.

Here is a great introductory article I found on Grist about the institution of MTR mining.

Mountaintop-removal mining is devastating Appalachia, but residents are fighting back | By Erik Reece | Grist | Main Dish | 16 Feb 2006

As usual, it seems that crooked and undemocratic politics, impatient and greedy economics, and the complicity of the major media, are screwing over ordinary people - some in the short run, and most of us in the long run - to line the pockets

Thoughts? Opinions?

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

They're all in Iraq complaining about the war, I guess.

The media tend to focus on exciting stories that will grab people's attention. Now, the answer you'll get out of your average Joe about this would probably be something along the lines of "so they're flattening mountains out the middle of nowhere, why should I care?". This kind of apathy, supposed though it may be, doesn't sell newspapers very easily. So they focus on the more obvious stories, such as "CREDIT CRUNCH!!!" or "ILLEGAL WAR!!!" or "CLIMATE CHANGE!!!" or "PRESIDENT CAUGHT IN HIS GARDEN WITHOUT PANTS ON!!!".

I figure some bored actor will clock on to the issues with MTR when there are hardly any mountains left and lead a valiant struggle against the evil corporations. Give it twenty or thirty years, when it's too late, and you'll see something about it on Fox or in The Sun. At the moment, the actors are all busy with the whole 'climate change will DESTROY THE EARTH' bandwagon, so this will be a secondary priority to most people despite how appalling it is. There's really not much else we can do about it.

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

The American taxpayer is saddled with tens of billions (by low estimates) of clean-up costs for environmental screwups, while the companies get away with tactics like paying massive bonuses to execs before declaring bankruptcy, and avoiding all repayments.

The flipside is that many communities (often in conservative "heartland" USA) are faced with environmental damage that will possibly never go away, like cyanide and acid drainage from closed mines.

A sensible person would hope that those effects would forstall the desire for more of the same, but seeing as the people who use the products are almost never the people who live under the shadow of environmental degredation, and of course sensible people are all too often ignored, such problems will continue.

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

ugh, why cant poeple who actully care take charge.... Like why cant bill gates use his money to stop this, or why can "the poeple" deside what to do with our country's land....I mean comon we live on it, I think we should get a fair say on how it is used/destroyed.

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

Thanks for nothing, congress.

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

You completely forgot about thanking the executive and judicial branch as well, good sir... ;)

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

How could I? After all they've done for me too.

Re: Present Environmental Tragedy
 

Did you know Alaska's population is paid money just to live there? I suppose it's just to keep them happy as their land is drilled, defrosted and fished clean.

Point is, People don't care what doesn't effect them currently, especially when the media is nothing more then another corporation profiting off the biggest and most exciting news, and this, well this is hardly more exciting then Jessica Alba just having a child I mean a miracle of child birth only happens once in a blue moon.