Join the Green Sanctuary Mountaintop Removal Site Tour June 12/13
Larry Gibson's home is here on Kayford Mtn.
If you are outraged at the environmental disaster from the BP oil spill in the Gulf, you should know that one every bit as horrifying is taking place now in nearby Appalachia. Mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) has blown up 500 mountains and flattened an area the size of Delaware just west of us, and WE BENEFIT from this. As in the Gulf disaster, the people, wildlife, and ecosystems may never fully recover. The Green Sanctuary Task Force at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist in Charlottesville is leading an interfaith effort in this region to end mountaintop removal coal mining. We believe the first step is to become witnesses so that we can tell others with authority what we have seen.
We invite you to join us on an overnight trip to Kayford Mountain, West Virginia, about 200 miles west of Charlottesville, to visit the home of Larry Gibson, founder of Keeper of the Mountains Foundation. Gibson’s home is surrounded by 1200 acres of flattened mountains, but he has courageously fought to live there and protect it.
We will leave on Saturday, June 12, either by van or car pool, tour the site, and then drive on to Charleston where we will stay overnight (hotel reservations required, contact us). All are invited to share a potluck picnic supper and discussion with UUs from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Charleston in the nearby Kanewha State Forest, which is threatened by natural gas and coal mining. Non-UU group members can explore Charleston, the capital of West Virginia. We plan to attend Sunday services with our fellow UUs before returning home, hopefully with photos and experience that will help us communicate what we have witnessed. The tour is limited to 20 adults. Eight spaces in the van are still available, at a cost per individual of $40 for rental and fuel. A donation to The Keepers of the Mountain Foundation (founded by Larry Gibson) is also requested.
Those wishing to join us for only the MTR site tour may do so if they contact us before June 1. To learn more about the trip and mountaintop removal coal mining, email Sharon Baiocco, Green Sanctuary Task Force Chair, green@uucharlottesville.org or phone her at 434-293-7797.
