Want to know more about environmental journalism?

by Bernhard S. Debatin, Professor; Director of Tutorial Studies for Journalism

As you may have read in the Scripps Notes, I will be driving to the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists from Oct. 15.-18.

Please let me know if you’re interested, and also if you’d need financial support to attend the conference.

I am very excited about this conference, not least because it will focus on mountaintop removal in the Appalachians, a topic that I have been following closely for quite some time.

Among the highlights of this conference is a day tour to the Kayford Mountain, an infamous mountaintop removal site.

Photo by Vivian Stockman, OHVEC.

Almost Level 1: Cutting Down Mountains for Coal
Kayford Mountain, about an hour south of Charleston, WV. Notice how the massive dragline is dwarfed by the scale of the operation.

6:00 a.m. departure, lunch included, $30 fee
Larry Gibson’s piece of Kayford Mountain used to be the lowest peak for miles. Now it’s the highest. There’s no better place to see the effects of mountaintop removal coal mining — a practice that is feeding a growing demand for coal and leveling wide stretches of Appalachia. See an active mine and hear from people who live near the mines and the processing plants and coal trucks that serve them. See mine reclamation and hear from industry representatives who’ll tell you why what they’re doing is good and necessary.
Driving time — 6 hours total. But there will be beautiful scenery, informative speakers, and documentaries on the way.

Source: http://www.sej.org/confer/vatech/agenda.htm

posted in: HTC

September 26, 2008

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