Brown Bag, Green Book #7: Something's Rising

Dawn Coppock and Pat Hudson of LEAF discussed the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining and the book Something's Rising: Appalachians fighting mountaintop removal. View their presentation slides as you listen to the recording below.

The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in communities dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, "the mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal.

Download, or play now:

About Pat Hudson and Dawn Coppock

Pat Hudson is the Executive Director of Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship (LEAF). Dawn Coppock is LEAF Legislative Director. Both have become registered lobbyists and travel frequently to Nashville. The work they do for LEAF is on a voluntary basis. Hs. Hudson is a freelance writer including books Inns of the Southern Mountains and a volume of Smithsonian Guide to Historic America. She was a contributing writer to Americana for ten years and was a co-editor of Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia. Ms. Coppock is an adoption attorney and author of Coppock on Tennessee adoption law.

Subscribe for free to get new podcast episodes automatically downloaded so you can listen whenever and wherever you want.

Knox County Public Library Podcasts by Knox County Public Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. © 2009 Some Rights Reserved.