Sandra Diaz: Citizen Reporter

Sandra Diaz is the national field coordinator for Appalachian Voices, which works to protect the natural and cultural heritage of central and southern Appalachia. She works with activists to help educate people all the US about mountaintop removal coal mining, which she considers one of the largest environmental and human right issues in US today.

Contact: sandra@appvoices.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandranista

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1101251292&ref=profile

Websites: iLoveMountains.org, AppalachianVoices.org, www.powerpastcoal.org

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New Media Keeping Coal Ash Spill from Drowning in the Muck

While the current amount of coverage on the 1 billion gallon coal ash spill in Harriman, TN is definitely lacking compared to how devastating this disaster is, the amount of coverage is more than 4 times what the Martin County, KY spill of 2000 received, based on a quick Google search.
The Kentucky coal slurry spill, which was only one third the size of this recent coal-related event, was at that time considered by the EPA (which is not known for over exaggeration of the severity of events) to be "the largest environmental disaster east of the Mississippi."
While media complacency and cultural bias against the rural (and not so rural) South existed back in 2000 and still exists today, there are new tools to help us bypass them. Blogs. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. Flickr. I could go on, but you "get the picture" (and if you don't, you can search for it, and SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE has ...read full post

Comments (0) | January 9, 2009