Several Years Later...

I thought I'd leave this update if someone finds this blog and wonders what happened to the Mullins family.

First, it's important to address what happened to our mountain home.

Beginning in 2013, the coal markets entered a "bust" stage within their typical boom and bust cycle. As mines shut down and coal companies filed for bankruptcy (as they always have), they utilized the downturn to blame environmental regulations for mine closures. The reason was simple, push job-scared mining families to vote for more conservative politicians (like Donald Trump) who would gut environmental regulations for the next boom cycle. Large environmental groups declared themselves victorious to their funders and moved on, leaving grassroots organizers to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, coal companies did not stop mining entirely. They are still destroying mountain tops throughout Appalachia, and since corporations still own the vast majority of mineral rights, they will wait until markets return and begin re-opening mines.

It is difficult to express how depressing and frustrating it all is. Only one thing comes close to communicating the emotional turmoil grassroots organizers from the region feel, and that is the short film The Both of Me (2021) featuring Chuck Nelson and Maria Gunnoe. I deeply admire both of them. They helped me understand the truth about surface mining and that there was a fight to be fought. Please watch it and support the Mother Jones Community Foundation if you can.

--

As for us? Well. It's a long story. The past seven years have been full of change.

Rustina and I both graduated from Berea College in 2016 with honors. Our time at Berea was filled with new knowledge and self-awareness. Part of that self-awareness helped us realize things about our relationship too. We married very young and despite all of those years together, we found we were not the same people we once were. We decided to separate and eventually obtained a no-fault divorce with joint custody of the kids. I became Daniel and Alex's primary caregiver and eventually remarried a wonderful lady who was working as a long-term volunteer in central Appalachia. While no divorce ever occurs without some level of heartache, the kids weathered it remarkably well. They have graduated high school and are charting their next steps. Daniel is looking to work through his neurodivergence as best he can and go to college to learn various trade skills, while Alex wants to spend time working in the Americorps before going to college.

As for Breaking Clean. I did my best to cobble together a basic income working in various areas. Evening Star Productions contracted me to help with distribution and public outreach for the documentary film Blood on the Mountain (another excellent film I highly recommend); I did some consulting work for the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN); we became involved with the Citizens Climate Lobby; and I did a bit of public speaking at colleges and universities throughout the northeast and the mid-Atlantic. About a year and a half in, I was approached with the opportunity to pursue a master's in sociology at Virginia Tech through a graduate teaching assistantship. I accepted and we left Kentucky for the New River Valley of Virginia. 

I intended to pick up where I left off by studying the jobs vs. environment dichotomy and issues that prevent community organizing around environmental issues. My studies only helped further my understanding of why environmental activism was failing, much of which was pinpointing various issues I'd run up against with many environmental non-profits. I was finally able to put a name to it, the non-profit industrial complex (NPIC).

For those unfamiliar with the NPIC, it works like this. Environmental non-profits seek out hot topic issues, join the fight, give a few resources, and co-opt everything. They use the voices of local grassroots organizers to fundraise and host workshops, meetings, and lobbying efforts while bringing in activists who are culturally different from the local communities. Ultimately, they earn money to pay their salaries while living middle and upper middle class lifestyles in wealthier areas, well away from the actual problems. Think greenwashing using actual environmental issues and exploiting the people fighting them.

As time wore on, I uncovered levels of classism and elitism among even some of the more regional "grassroots" organizations, including Appalachian Voices (whose primary offices are found in Charlottesville, VA, and Boone, NC, both of which are areas drastically different socioeconomically from the areas they seek to "help"). Another example was the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, which, after being called out for similar issues and underpaying "lower level" staff, dissolved the organization when employees unionized to combat the injustices within the organization.

The deeper the rabbit hole went, the more obvious it became that we were never just fighting the coal industry and other major polluters; we were fighting systemic oppression imposed by environmental elitists. I even realized that my blog "Thoughts of a Coal Miner" was only popular when I was calling out "anti-environmentalist" coal miners, but never when I critiqued environmentalists and organizations for astroturfing and creating a culture war rather than working toward actual organizing work and tangible positive outcomes within coal mining communities.

Then COVID hit, which created its own set of issues. I decided to withdraw from graduate studies and pursue a long-held dream. After years of searching for a new home to put down roots in, we chose the Maine Highlands based on its similarities to home and cooler climate. With any luck, we can start a small educational permaculture farm and teach kids the importance of local food security while appreciating our natural world. If we can make enough money to buy some land, the kids plan on joining us.

So, that about sums it up. We are in Maine, still trying to figure things out. If you want to connect or reconnect, feel free to reach out via nick.mulllins79 [at] gmail[dot]com. 

In peace and hope,
Nick

We're doing it!

It's been quite some time since our last post, almost a full year to be exact, and so much has happened.

Following the 2015 tour, I began my final year at Berea College, working harder than ever to finish my undergraduate degree. I'm happy to say that in May of this year, I graduated with honors.

As a family, we have learned so much, been so many places, and met so many wonderful people. Over the past six years, we have really begun to realize who we are, what needs to be done, and how we can accomplish it. The Breaking Clean Tours were a huge part of that, bringing our academic work and our desire to continue fighting for environmental justice into a workable synergy.

We are happy to announce that we have started our own public relations and environmental advocacy social business Breaking Clean.

But what about the tour?

Don't worry! We are still working at it, visiting institutions of higher learning to inspire the next generation of advocates and to create more support for building sustainable communities.

As we transition, we will no longer be using this blog page, and are instead moving to the new website, www.breakclean.com.

If you have any questions, you can find our contact information here.

Thanks again to everyone who made the tours possible. We are looking forward to continuing this work, helping to spread the word and need for a better, more sustainable tomorrow!

-Nick

Connections - Breaking Clean 2015 Final Blog

Connections by Rustina & Nick Mullins 

On May 31^st, 2015 we packed our little Toyota Corolla full of camping gear, clothes, cameras, presentation gear, and of course, ourselves and set off on a two-month long journey to the furthest western regions of the lower 48 and British Columbia. Over the 62 day long tour the odometer of our car increased by some 9,300 miles (15,024 km), to destinations entirely unfamiliar to us except what we’d seen in magazines and on television. We met with the wonderful hospitality of hosts who would provide us 27 nights of comfortable rest in their homes, and we’d spend 18 nights camping outdoors and 16 nights in hotel rooms thanks to either the generosity of the Cumberland Museum and the Sierra Club or due to extenuating circumstances concerning the weather. But many people have asked us  “Why the Pacific Northwest? Why so far away from home?”

It was indeed a question we asked ourselves many times. Last year, the Breaking Clean Tour focused on traveling around the eastern half of the United States sharing our family’s story in order to raise awareness about mountain top removal coal mining (mtr). Sometimes we’d have a specific ask to write congressional representatives and support various bills that would stop mtr. But many of those people were already working on their own issues, spending their time dealing with the problems most immediate to their communities. It gave us a great deal to think about over the next school year, and through our courses, we realized the need to connect all issues and find the focal points that best achieve all of our goals.

Having heard through social media about the proposed coal export terminals along the west coast, we became intrigued with the activism taking place there and thought that perhaps our story could aid people in seeing the broader issues of coal. As we made our way across the country, we saw several coal trains heading back and forth to the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, each symbolizing the destruction that had occurred to mine it and the pollution that would be released when it would be burned at its final destination. To see and understand this—to connect the issues as we have—bares with it a strong dose of realism as well as resolve in fighting against the injustices we are bestowing upon coming generations.

Our journey truly began in Colstrip, Montana where such resolve was steeled when we were honored to speak out against the Tongue River Railroad that would open up mining in the Otter Creek area. Lending our voice to people of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and local ranchers in Montana started a new chapter for us, forging connections that needed to be forged.

I spoke to our own experiences and the truth about “job creation” and the “economic benefits” coal mining companies often tout. I tried to relate that impacts to the land and people would not be worth the few years of employment the mining operations would give, and that the mine would not just effect the people living in southern Montana. It would affect people from the mine all the way to the Pacific Ocean and beyond.

While we had a vague understanding of what we hoped to accomplish with our tour, this moment and others forged what would be the overall purpose of the tour—to help people make connections and begin looking at a bigger picture.

St. Louis, July 30th 2015 | Photo Courtesy Missouri Beyond Coal

As we shared our history and struggles with people, we asked our audiences to think about what they were fighting against, whether it be coal trains, export terminals, power plants, or even pipelines, and to then think of  how they would be helping more than just those living in their own backyards. This message was broadened even further to asking people to think about all environmental issues and their cultural causes.

Making connections between what we have, what we need, and all the issues we face is the only truly effective means of positively affecting the future. From the ranchers and First Nations people in Montana to people living on Vancouver and Denman Islands to those living near Surrey, British Columbia, Bellingham, Seattle, and Longview, Washington, Portland, Oregon and all along the way, we each have understandings and lessons that must be shared. 

The 2015 tour is now over and we have much to remember and consider as we enter into our final year of college. Venturing forth we are left with the question of what to do next. We certainly hope to continue this mission in whatever form it may take, reaching larger audiences at institutions of higher learning perhaps. Whatever does happen, we hope to continue to make connections between people, the resources they choose to use, and the necessity for us to all break clean from a terrible future.

This tour could not have been accomplished without the help and contribution of so many people. 


Esther Livingston & Staff
Center for Transformative Learning | Office of Internships | Berea College

Dr. Chris Green
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center |  Berea College

Kate Rooth, Brian Sewell, Thom Kay, Cat McCue
Appalachian Voices

Dena Jensen and Sandy Robson

Coal Stop

Stephanie Smith

Communities and Coal

Richard Jehn

Dr. Frank James

Joann Kerr
Sustainable Northeast Seattle

Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky

Columbia Riverkeeper

Lucas Schuller

Cumberland Museum

Wendy & Ken Boothroyd

Denman Island Sustainability Festival   

Jamie Folsom

Trees, Water, People

Mark Haim

Mid-Missouri Peaceworks & KOPN

Mary Edwards & Don Marsh

KWMU “St. Louis on the Air”

The Sierra Club

                Mike Scott & Alexis Bonogofsky – Montana Chapter

                Aaron Isherwood – National Headquarters

                Sara Edgar – Missouri Beyond Coal

Homestays:
The McRae Family and Rocker Six Ranch

Janice and Maurice

Wendy and Ken

Bob and Dotty

Richard

Terri

Jasmine & Jared

Mark and Katherine

And our countless donors who without your financial assistance, we would have never been able to complete this tour!!!!

Thank you all!

The Mullins Family

Former Coal Miner Seeks Just Energy Transition | Sierra Club

The Planet

Sierra Club stories from the front lines

August 11, 2015

By Dylan Mullins

Photo Amanda Elkins: bellamandaphoto.com

 

Nick Mullins is a former fourth-generation coal miner from Georges Fork, a small valley in the far southwestern tip of Virginia near eastern Kentucky. After leaving the mines at age 30, Nick embraced a new environmental ethos, and has become a voice for the region about the effects of coal culture. The Planet recently caught up with him to talk about his life after coal mining and how he and his family are using their story to educate others and facilitate a dialog about coal in all
corners of the country.

You have been traveling this summer across the country, sharing your story as a former coal miner. Tell us about the experience of the “Breaking Clean Tour” and what your goals have been for the project.

Our experience has been phenomenal. We’ve had the honor of meeting hundreds of people dedicated to protecting the health of their communities, as well as witnessing first hand the generosity of people willing to take our family into their homes. It’s uplifting to see so many people dedicated to the same goals as we are, just in different locations with different issues. There are several goals within our tour, but perhaps the most important has been building connections between communities and the issues they each face. By presenting our personal story of the impacts coal extraction has had on our lives, and our life’s journey since then, we hope to open people up to the broader understanding of environmental justice we have come to know over the past few years. So often we find ourselves intently focused upon the issues closest to us that we sometimes forget the bigger picture. As we have learned, everything is connected and we must realize the work we do affects people living elsewhere--sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. Along the way we spend time getting to know the communities and initiatives people are taking towards sustainable living and environmental justice issues. This helps us to continue broadening our own understandings while giving us the chance connect people and spread new ideas to new places.


You planned, specifically, to travel to the Northwest to share the stories of coal miners. What was your reasoning behind traveling to this particular region?

The Pacific Northwest is in a unique position to determine the future of mining operations in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming. As US thermal coal continues to lose ground to natural gas and renewable energy within the electrical generation sector, mining companies are seeking to extend coal’s profit viability in foreign markets by constructing coal export terminals along the west coast and shipping the coal overseas. We felt it was important to learn from organizations working to stop the construction of export terminals and to share with them a better understanding of how that work will impact local mining communities who are being impacted by coal extraction.


You stopped in at Sierra Club headquarters in San Francisco, where I was fortunate enough to participate in a compelling conversation about the future of coal in Appalachia. What has the dialogue been like with various people and groups to whom you’ve spoken?

What we’ve found is that the majority of our tour presentations are given to like-minded people. In most cases, the discussion becomes solution oriented with many people focusing on the necessity for renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels. From there we try to bring energy efficiency to the forefront of the conversation as a more easily obtained start to a long term and just energy transition. This ultimately leads us into a conversation about our culture and how it is influenced by cheap energy. Communication strategies and public education then become a focal point as we discus better ways to connect with a larger demographic, including many blue collar workers and their families, and how to correlate energy efficiency into the everyday financial struggles many people face.

What has it been like for you, a former coal miner, to now be speaking against the industry?

It’s been complicated. As we progress towards a coal free future, I am fully aware of the economic implications it will have back home. There are few job alternatives for Appalachian people due to the mono-economy created and maintained by the coal industry. To say that coal mining families are facing a difficult financial situation would be putting it lightly. At the same time however, I realize that there is much more at stake than the short lived economic prosperity coal mining provides to
Appalachian communities and others. The health issues associated with coal pollution and the impending problems of global climate change are enough reason for me to speak at length about the need for a just energy transition.

With the coal industry in decline,  particularly in the Appalachian region, the question has become, “What is the future of coal?” What industries or initiatives do you think could benefit the region both culturally and economically?

Energy efficiency is perhaps one of our best options in alleviating the economic distress we are seeing in coal mining communities. Not only would making homes and businesses more energy efficient provide hundreds of jobs with livable wages in building trades such as carpentry, masonry, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing, and so on, it would also decrease energy costs. Appalachian people were once known for their ability to sustain themselves on very little, enjoying their freedom from various economic constraints. I believe that once people are reminded of their heritage and are faced with the inevitability of coal’s decline, we will begin to see the resiliency Appalachian people are known for. There are several organizations working to help in this transition, including the Mountain Association of Community Economic Development (MACED) which focuses a great deal on alternative economics based on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and Grow Appalachia, an organization that works to increase local food production in the central Appalachian coalfields and surrounding areas.

Your time on the road is coming to an end within the next few days. How do you plan to keep a project like this going? What are your next steps?

My wife and I are entering our senior year at Berea College in Kentucky which will make it challenging for us to maintain the level of activism we were able to achieve over the summer. Our hope is to combine assignments and projects with our activism in a way that will allow us to finish our undergraduate degrees. Once we’ve graduated, we are hoping to continue the tour, perhaps through starting a non-profit organization and raising funds. We would like to take our message to new audiences, especially younger audiences at various colleges and universities, perhaps even high schools, all institutions we have been unable to reach due to our own educational commitments during the same time of the year.

 

Image Source: 

Amanda Elkins - bellamandaphoto.com

Dylan
Mullins is an intern in the Communications department of the Sierra
Club and is also a rising junior at Berea College. In his spare time he
enjoys biking, film making, and dancing in his socks to 80's techno,
usually a mirror is involved.

See more stories by this author

See the original article at:
 Former Coal Miner Seeks Just Energy Transition | Sierra Club

Quick Updates

Just dropping a couple of quick updates. We're back home in Berea, having actually arrived home on August 1st after 62 days on the road. It's been a whirlwind to get settled back in, get the kids ready for their school year (starts Wednesday!) and of course, prepare ourselves for our senior year at Berea College. We are working on a final post to cover the last part of our trip which included presentations and radio appearances in Columbia, MO and St. Louis. Thanks for your patience and support!

-Nick 

Day 58

Today is day 58 of our tour. It is the 58th day we have been gone from home, the 58th day of meeting new people, seeing new places, and now, seeing some old in a new light.

We have just two more presentations to give: Columbia, Missouri at the Boone County Government Center on Wednesday, July 29th at 7 p.m. and the last presentation of the tour in St. Louis at the Schafly Branch Public Library on Thursday July 30th at 6 p.m.

Also in line are two radio shows:

Evening Edition with Mark Haim
KOPN 89.5 - Listener Supported Radio
Tuesday, July 28th at 6 p.m.

St. Louis on the Air with Don Marsh
KWMU 90.7 - St. Louis Public Radio
Thursday, July 30th at 12:00 p.m.

Wish us luck as we wrap up the final week of our tour!

Seattle to Portland to San Francisco and Beyond (days 35 through 54)

Following Seattle, we moved on to Portland where we stayed with some wonderful people, Jasmine of the Columbia Riverkeepers and her partner Jared, a 3rd generation longshoreman. We were in town for the anniversary of the Longshoreman Strike of 1934 and we were able to give presentations in Longview, WA (potential site for the Millennium Coal Export Terminal) and Hood River, OR. We also made time to tour the Columbia Ecovillage and see what people can do with existing apartment complexes and copious amounts of permaculture.

Following our week spent in Portland, we made our way down the southern coast of Oregon and into Northern California where we saw the splendors of the Pacific crashing against rocky shores and the majesty of the coastal redwood forests. We then spent a day in San Francisco showing the new documentary Blood on the Mountain to friends at the Sierra Club and Earth Justice.

Over the past week we have slowly trekked back east, taking time to enjoy the beauty of nature within the Yosemite and Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks, hoping to re-center ourselves following a month of recalling the destruction of our own home in the Appalachian Mountains. Today, we find ourselves in Frisco, Colorado, continuing our trip back east, looking forward to giving our last two presentations off the tour in both of Columbia and St. Louis, Missouri before finally going home after 61 days on the road. 

It would be misleading to say that this tour hasn't weighed on us. We have gone between hope and despair. We have met truly wonderful people who give so much, and we have seen the larger crowds of consumers streaming through the cities. We've found ourselves in awe of nature and in the jaws of industry. What we have seen and continue to see over the course of this tour will take a great deal of time process.