Lost Mountain Group Post

Matt Hunter, Matt Proctor, Sam Chan, Jeff King

1. The value of this Appalachian region is the very unique and important ecosystem and it is quickly being destroyed by the effects of mountain top removal coal mining. This whole ecosystem is one economy and as you start to break it apart then the economy begins to fail. Once this happens then everything else it affects cannot function. Everyday the coal mining adds pollution and waste to the environment that is destroying this ecosystem. Coal does bring about one benefit with cheap and usable energy, but it comes at a huge price in destroying the environment around it. This is all at stake when coal is used as a main energy source. As the forests are being destroyed the species are becoming less diverse and begin to inner breed among themselves which eventually weakens the entire species, like the flying squirrel.

2. He is showing the coal mining, then takes you out of it to show you the bigger picture of what is happening with the whole cycle of coal mining. It is affecting the government with laws being passed, it affects the people around the coal mining, and the environment. He also takes us into the actions that activists take and people take who do not want to succumb to the coal companies in giving up their land and homes. It's hard for us as outsiders from central Appalachia to completely put ourselves in the shoes of the people who this is affecting. It is definitely easy to sympathize with these people's situations because it's hard to imagine life like that of central Appalachians in the coal mining regions. It has affected their lands, their religion with destroying churches, and then it has affected the environment around them which is definitely wrong to do.

3. What Reece has written about has definitely affected our beliefs. To go back to things we mentioned in question 2, it's hard to put yourself in the shoes of these people who are being affected by coal mining. It's definitely something that would make life harder. Reece talks about how people who live in Louisville could pay to get the forests replaced, which in turn would clean their water, instead of spending money right now for clean water that is destroying the forests in Eastern Kentucky.

4. Reece does a very good job at pointing out all sides of the argument. He lets everybody get their word in, even though he clearly disagrees with mountain top removal. He brings in the whole picture with politics and the people around it on both sides. Reece also does a good job at grabbing the emotions of the reader and trying to put them into the shoes of the people who this coal mining is really affecting.

5. The reason the coal companies are using mountain top removal is because it is the quickest way to meet the large demand of coal in this country. American's use coal every day as a main energy source and in order for the coal companies to continue to produce it for us they have to use this type of mining. We can change that being energy efficient and using alternative sources of energy.