I was given the honor of being featured in the September-October 2014 edition of the Audubon Magazine alongside some amazing voices on global warming to include...Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist at Texas Tech University, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Ben Lowe of the Young Evangelicals for Climate Action in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and even Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson.
Voices from Common Ground
Who's Worried About Global Warming?
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| Photo Credit: Nigel Parry/CPi |
Berea, Kentucky
Fourth-Generation Coal Miner, Climate Change Activist
When I failed to secure a job that could provide the money I believed necessary to give my children a better future, I became the fourth generation to work underground.
Eventually I realized that coal mining was much more destructive and detrimental to community health than we had originally thought. I came to the realization that earning a high wage to provide my children with a “better future” was not important when we are contaminating and destroying the environment along with their future health.
I was raised in a time when miners understood coal companies were only interested in profit, and a time when community was still strong. I know that we can bring our communities back together and rekindle the flames of hope for future generations—that we can avoid a life bent to the corporate greed of extractive industries.
Younger miners and those most loyal to the coal companies often take offense at our anti-coal-industry positions. Some accuse me of turning my back on my fellow coal miners. On occasion, though, coal miners who understand the dynamics of the coal industry offer up their support.
I fear nothing will happen until people are faced with imminent job loss and they begin to see beyond the “war on coal” propaganda being issued by the coal industry and the politicians it supports.
If we could loosen the industry’s grip on the political and economic systems within coal extraction regions, I know we could redevelop the economy, possibly even bringing manufacturing and technological innovation jobs in the energy-efficiency sector. We have an amazing opportunity to become the “region that could.”
Click HERE for the full online article.
About posting the Audobon write-up: Sometimes it is because who we are and what we are doing becomes synonymous with getting the word out. Education is critical if any of us are going to make that change that makes a difference. Thanks for getting this out there. Dena Jensen
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