Mysteriously posted on campus 1/25/10
Even when it’s cold and snowy out, there still are some people on the University of Kentucky campus thinking about how the school gets its energy. This sign allegedly went up sometime Tuesday. I received the following press release from “midnightactivist.”:
LEXINGTON, Ky: Tuesday, an anonymous group of students from the University of Kentucky hung a banner from a parking structure near Rose Street to protest the university’s use of coal power on campus. The banner, reading “COAL: A Tradition of Oppression. STUDENTS: Let’s Change Our Legacy”, included a reproduction of the familiar UK symbol, with a burning smokestack between the letters instead of the usual Memorial Hall steeple.
Deemed the “midnight strike force” by local news sources, the students are fueling a campaign to move the university beyond the “outdated” technology of coal power and in the direction of cleaner energies. One of the students, an economics and environmental studies senior, said, “You can’t argue facts. Coal is a finite resource and the shift to alternative energies has to begin immediately. Kentucky must realize its potential to be progressive and enterprising in the country’s transition toward environmental awareness.”
The students’ use of the word “oppression” alludes to the detrimental effects of coal not only on the environment, but on the miners and communities in coal-mining regions of the state. An estimated 12,000 coal miners have died from black lung in the past decade, and their families are equally affected. The real tragedy, though, lies in mountain top removal (MTR) coal mining, a practice that more and more coal companies are using to extract coal at a lower cost. MTR employs explosives to decapitate mountains, and the leftover waste is deposited in surrounding valleys. The chemicals and residue bury and contaminate freshwater streams, thus poisoning the water supply for surrounding communities and devastating local ecosystems.
While the university, directly, does not deal in MTR coal, Kentucky Utilities provides a significant portion of the campus’s power, and is a known distributor of energy derived from the controversial method.
“The University of Kentucky is the flagship university of the state, and as such, sets the example for the rest of Kentucky. Any change we can make toward cleaner energy and the diversification of jobs and economies will affect the entire Appalachian region drastically, and for the better. This change is one that can’t wait,” said an Appalachian Studies junior.
It seems momentum has not died from the announcement last semester that the new Wildcat Coal Lodge would be endorsed by the coal industry. Tuesday’s banner was one of a series that has hung on campus since October, indicating that the students have not forgotten President Todd’s decision, and that they still worry for the future of their school’s energy and integrity.
Any efforts by anyone in this state to combat coal are almost futile. Recreating the atmosphere behind KFTC’s successful campaign against the broad form deed is going to be very difficult with all the obfuscation and encouragement of ignorance from the political right and their close allies in the coal industry.
Protest mountain top removal…fine. Deep mininig in Western Kentucky is another thing altogether. Don’t generalize all coal mining into one entity….and how about getting positive and using some of that protest energy to promote technology to utilize fossil fuels in environmentally friendly ways….and one more thing protesters, grow up a little. Things aren’t really like they seem when you’re in college.
Coal has been the life blood of Kentucky for close to 100 years. The 1974 Reclamation Act solved many environmental issues, especially in Western Kentucky, but not the MTR issue in Eastern Kentucky. Our scientist need to tackle that one. UK students shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds them. Thank God for Coal and the employment it’s given so many for so long and continues.
Ken,
First, I’m glad that you support the protest of MTR. MTR is an abomination and must be stopped immediately.
The problem with continuing to rely on fossil fuels is I doubt you could provide any examples of scalable technology that allows fossil fuels to be used in “environmentally friendly ways”. I’d bet that any example you provide could be shown to be not environmentally friendly. Fossil fuels are destructive at point of extraction, dirty at the point of use, and often toxic at the point of waste disposal.
Large-scale wind, hydro, and solar have their ecological drawbacks too, but to a much lesser degree, and these impacts are more easily mitigated.
Most people realize and accept that fossil fuels will continue to be utilized (hopefully in their least destructive forms) until less destructive energy tech can be scaled up. What these students are demanding is an immediate change in course.
Finally, you imply that protesting is immature. We just celebrated Martin Luther King Day. Were the civil rights protesters being immature when they demanded social change?