Published by Sparki, September 10th, 2012
Cross-posted from RAN’s Understory
“They tell us we’re collateral damage. Well, I ain’t collateral damage. I am somebody. My name is Larry Gibson.”
–Larry Gibson
Energy and economic policies have allowed coal companies to turn the state into a national sacrifice zone. Mountains are flattened by a surface mining technique called mountaintop removal, which buries rivers and streams in debris and poisons the ground water with the waste.
Appalachians that fight back or speak out are often ostracized and viciously attacked by pro-coal partisans while officials often look away or side with industry. My friend Larry Gibson lived that reality more than most.
Larry, after decades of fighting Big Coal, Larry passed away on Kayford Mountain.
The first time I met Larry was like the first time lots of other people met Larry over the years. It was at his family home on Kayford Mountain. The “family home” was a small, simple house. The 54 acre property is surrounded by one of the largest mine sites in the state. When you look at the mine site from Larry’s property line, you see moonscape. When you look at aerial photos of it, you see an island of green surrounded by moonscape.
Larry had decided early on that he wouldn’t sell out to the coal companies and allow them to strip mine Kayford, a place his family had lived on for generations. Larry spent a lot of his life in the past 20 years traveling the country speaking out powerfully, in his trademark bright yellow hat and t-shirt, about mountaintop removal and the coal industry’s war on Appalachia. He started a foundation called Keepers of the Mountain that has since educated and inspired thousands.
Churches, schools, community groups: he never gave up. Larry kept fighting and spreading the gospel about his mountain home until the end.
He was one of the most warmhearted people I knew and had a sweet sense of humor. No one was a stranger to him. He stayed at my house in the Mission district of San Francisco for a few days last year and woke up early every day to go just walk around the neighborhood and talk to people.
Read more:
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2012/09/10/remembering-appalachias-mountain-keeper-larry-gibson/