David Cooper, an environmental activist focusing on the issues surrounding the “mountaintop removal” method of coal mining, will give a presentation on the Fredonia campus on Wednesday, April 1 at 2 p.m. in room S-104 of the Williams Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Mountaintop removal mining increases flooding, contaminates drinking water, cracks foundations of nearby homes and showers towns with dust and noise from blasting. Over 300,000 acres of the most beautiful and productive hardwood forests in America have already been turned into barren grasslands due to this activity.
The 90-minute presentation includes a stunning 25-minute slide show about the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining on residents, communities and the environment in the southern Appalachians. It also focuses on alternative forms of energy and economic development issues, and features stories about the people involved in the grassroots citizens’ movement working to save the Appalachian Mountains from corporate greed.
After working for 20 years as a mechanical engineer, Cooper decided to devote his full attention to environmental activism after seeing a mountaintop removal mine on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. He is now a member of the Sierra Club and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and has worked as a coalfield organizer for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
This presentation has been shown over 600 times in 22 states since 2003, including over 200 large and small universities such as Duke University, Middlebury College and Iowa State University, in addition to many religious, community and civic organizations.
The program is sponsored by SUNY Fredonia’s Sustainability Committee and Department of Environmental Affairs.
