Thoughts on Margot's lecture and on the movie

Thoughts on Margot’s lecture: it was very informative and inspiring. The figures she quoted gave me an excellent overview of the energy situation in America, and suggested how much we are still reliant on fossil fuels and unsustainable forms of development. Her observations on America’s untapped wind and solar potential also made me realize that there is much that can still be done to radically transform our energy situation. I’m definitely considering taking classes in this area in the future.

Thoughts on the movie: I have always enjoyed documentaries – but The Appalachians was without doubt one of the best ones I have watched. It was very well made and intrigued me with its vivid depiction of the Appalachian mountain people, their incredibly rich music, the social, political and economic problems and opportunities that define the region, the environmental problems associated with strip mining and worse, mountain top removal. I loved the country music.

The documentary helped me better appreciate the tensions among the coal industry, the landowners and the environmentalists. Mountain top removal is the perhaps the most cost-effective way to extract coal, but it devastates the mountains. Furthermore, the remedies proposed by the coal companies tend to be superficial – “Reclamation is like putting lip-stick on a corpse”.

At the same time, the coal industry employs many people who would otherwise have been out of work. But the solution should not be to yield to the unions and to expand the coal industry – doing so would only worsen the underlying problem of structural rigidity. With the rise of environmentalism and the development of alternative energy sources, coal has likely become an industry in long-term decline. Instead of hiring more coal workers to solve this unemployment problem, the government can explore several alternatives that instead reduce reliance on the coal industry. For example, emphasize education and vocational training. The less skilled workers may have to work in mines because they do not have the education or vocational background to work elsewhere. This goes hand-in-hand with the development of alternative energy industries in the region to create new kinds of jobs.

I was very touched by the Appalachian people’s attachment to their land – their lives are closely intertwined with the mountains and they deeply cherish the hills they call home. I can’t wait to see the Appalachian mountains for myself!