Mountaintop Removal

Mountaintop removal has been on my mind lately. In October, I attended a public hearing on mountaintop removal on suspension and modification of nationwide permit 21. Apparently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a blanket permit to allow the placement of mining wastes (the industry calls it "overburden") into our mountain headwaters.

So basically, what you have is a blanket permit for the wholescale destruction of our mountains and our mountain streams. The mining industry prefers this method because it's the most profitable - compared to deep mining that employs hundreds for years, it takes only a handful of employees and a few months to operate the huge machines that tear down mountains.

But the true cost isn't factored into the market price. Air and water pollution, loss of native plants and animals, loss of unique scenic vistas important for eco-tourism, increased flooding risk, and loss of water supplies are not factored into this profit-seeking equation. While the coal companies take all the profits, the rest of society is holds the bill for the cost of losing the valuable service mountains provide, from simple personal enjoyment to regional availability of clean drinking water.

I feel like if more people knew about mountaintop removal, there would be such public outrage that the practice would be shut down immediately.

I was at Knoxville's "First Friday" event last night enjoying Knoxville's art scene. In addition to some great art, I was pleased to see that the organization Save Our Cumberland Mountains , now known as "Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment," was staffing an information booth about mountaintop removal strip mining.

I picked up a "I Love Mountains" bumper sticker - I'll be sure to put that on my car to spread the word.

I suggest checking out http://www.ilovemountains.org/ for more about Mountaintop removal coal mining. They have videos and much more information that I could speak with any authority about.

I listen to the greatest music

It's true, I listen to the greatest music. I'm thinking of getting a iPhone so that I can listen to Pandora Radio all the time. My pandora stations and page is here, <http://www.pandora.com/people/mountainsol>. I have a lot of bookmarked songs that are really amazing. That's why I bookmarked them don't you know... For example I am listening to Grito Nocturno Right now. It's bookmarked. Check it out or listen to it on iTunes. It has an awesome bass line. And I have a really cool subwoofer... it shakes my house! In a similar vein is Ghostwriter (Remix). There are a lot of others. I'm interested in a lot of types of music, which I think is why Pandora is so great- it plays music according to similarities between songs. On our local radio station, which is great btw, there are different shows that play music. Still the songs are grouped by genre instead of actual components. That's what I like about pandora, something you'd never guess will pop up into the playlist. Another Band that I really like is Ratatat.

Some of the music I love is played on NPR. Does that mean I'm out of date or really hip? Songs from Massive Attack, DJ Shadow, and Thievery Corporation find their way on there. When music becomes embedded in popular culture... does that mean it's more relevent or in decline from relevancy? For example one of Massive Attatck's songs is the opening credits for "House" and I think also for some other TV program.