MAYA CIARROCCHI working on video installation relating to Mountain Top mining

Some of you may know that I am starting work on a video installation that centers on Mountain Top Removal Mining.
I just completed my initial trip to West Virginia coal country and have returned forever changed.

I spoke with residents who have lived in the mountains their whole lives as have their ancestors. The coal companies (Massey Energy now Alpha Natural Resources) have systematically and illegally taken their
lands and turned them into coal fields poisoning their water and air. The is no potable water in these hills. Water must brought up in barrels and if it isn’t the residents drink water that is tainted with mercury and arsenic
among other toxins from coal processing and mine drainage. There are extremely high rates of birth defects and cancer in Appalachia, numbers the coal companies deny and have even insinuated are due to inbreeding.

Many people I spoke to feel helpless to stand up against Big Coal and a corrupt state government. Others are fighting as hard as they possibly can. Some stage tree sit ins on the mines and are arrested, others speak out in Washington.
One thing is true, the people of Appalachia are being denied the fundamental right of land ownership, clean water and air. As one activist I met stated, ” we are being colonized”.

The good news is there is something we can do. In NY if you pay a Con Ed bill you can switch where your energy is sourced to wind and solar. You simply call up Con Ed and they will take care it. Yes it’s more expensive than coal but if you can afford it,
the benefits outweigh the costs. Follow the link here: http://www.poweryourway.com/greenpower.asp.

Those of you that live out of state, I encourage you to contact your local power utility and see if you too can make the switch.

Visit this link to see how you are directly connected to Mountain Top Removal
http://www.ilovemountains.org/my-connection

Thanks for reading. I’ll be making several more trips to WV as the project develops and I promise I won’t bother you all the way through. Let me know if you would like more info on MTR and what you do to help.