A Fight for the Mountain Tops
Thursday, June 11 2009
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A Fight for the mountain tops
Maria Gunnoe, larger >>
Maria Gunnoe's family has lived on the same West Virginia land since they settled there after escaping the Trail of Tears. The area has long been coal mining country. Maria's grandfather and two brothers mined for coal. But the methods of mining have evolved to include more surface mining, also known as "mountain top removal." Maria recently won a major environmental prize in honor of her opposition to this kind of mining.
As she tells Dick, Maria felt that she had to be public in her protest after her own home was damaged by mining-related landslides. Not everyone in town took kindly to Maria's activism because mining brings good jobs to the community. Maria says she found the strength to win her court battle in the memory of her Cherokee grandfather.
- Learn more about Maria's work
- Find out more about Goldman Environmental Prize
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Summer Job: newspaper editor
Connie Jones
As part of our casual series on summer jobs, last week Dick spoke with a man who spent a number of summers working at a horse racetrack. Today Dick speaks with Connie Jones. Connie grew up in the rural South. Her high school guidance counselor told her she was more likely to go to jail than to college. But a stranger arrived in town to set up a newspaper that planned to investigate, among other things, race relations and labor issues. Connie tells Dick that meeting this man in Birkenstocks totally changed the trajectory of her life.Â
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