Mountaintop removal
Appalachia
Invisibilization
With a land mass the size of Rhode Island denuded by mountaintop removal coal mining, the southern Appalachian coalfields have become a national sacrifice zone. Confined to less populated areas, beyond the view of travelers on major highways, this growing social and ecological disaster has been invisible for decades to nearly everyone, including environmental activists, in the U.S. A long history of viewing Appalachia as outside mainstream national concerns has contributed to this invisibility. Cyber-activism is changing this neglect by making images of mountaintop removal (MTR) and its impacts accessible to Internet users. But the astonishing invisibility of MTR continues, due in part to the institutionalized privileging of professional expertise over local, experientially-based knowledge regarding the consequences of MTR.
To address this issue, one study recommends a knowledge commons approach, enabling "different ways of thinking and acting on issues" to "merge experiential knowledge and ways of talking about it with credentialed expertise." As such, "constructing knowledge commons is critical to anti-MTR movement building" and must become a "strategic focus in order to change underlying power relations and promote full community and grassroots organizational participation."
The example of ilovemountains.org is highlighted. As, the combined effort of numerous non-profit organizations - Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, Keepers of the Mountains Foundation, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Save Our Cumberland Mountains, and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards - the website has served as a hub of information and activism on mountaintop removal mining. By providing an open forum for communication, valuing local and experiential knowledge, and sharing photographic and other evidence of mountaintop removal destruction, this project has played a considerable role in rendering MTR destruction visible and helping to protect the Appalachian mountains. [1]