Burning the Future: Coal in America

During the course, we watched a documentary called Burning the Future: Coal in America. This documentary focused on the issue of mountain-top removal in West Virginia and the citizens impacted by it. Mountain-top removal is a efficient replacement to coal mining due to less workers required, cheaper costs, and quicker execution. However, the results of the coal extraction pollute the environment around it, making it unsafe for citizens to inhabit the area. These issues were ignored since government passed clearance on the procedure. This is because the economic impact of coal extraction was deemed greater than the environmental impacts. I feel sorry for the people that had live through these horrid conditions, but the situation was out of their control. They tried immensely to persuade others, but nobody else cared because they were too content with their own lives and receiving the benefits of the coal. As unfortunate as the situation was for the West Virginians, I feel the government could/should have stepped in to compensate these people for their losses. They would still have to move, but they could start anew elsewhere for generations ahead of them. Its tough, but its a cycle of life that has been going on for centuries. Even before this, we moved the Indians off of the land that they had rightfully deemed theirs.