Using Google Earth to See Destruction

Using Google Earth to See Destruction - An anonymous reader writes "On Monday, an environmental advocacy group [Appalachian Voices] joined with Google to deliver a special interactive layer for Google Earth. This new layer will tell "the stories of over 470 mountains that have been destroyed from coal mining, and its impact on nearby ecosystems. Separately, the World Wildlife Fund has added the ability to visit its 150 project sites using Google Earth."

[Slashdot]

Major kudos and thanks to Google for this. Mountaintop removal is one of the most odious examples of the rot of corruption brought to you by the Bush Junta. Leaving aside for a moment the wanton environmental destruction this type of mining causes, this practice represents brazen proof that private and public property rights are gone, subsumed by the right of megadeath corporations to make money. The fact is, coal can be (and has been for at least 700 years) extracted in more environmentally friendly ways, but sending miners underground and leaving the surface ecosystem untouched is more expensive than using explosives to blow the tops off mountains, filling in the valleys with the toxic sludge that's left behind. Explosives are cheaper than people. The Bush administration has shown time and again which it would rather employ.

Oh, and mountaintop removal is illegal, but when did the Bush Junta ever give a shit about the law? A federal judge has ruled that this practice violates the Clean Water Act. Bush's response: Appeal the verdict and threaten to re-write the law himself which, of course, only Congress can do under the Constitution, but when did Bush ever care about the Constitution?

Thanks to this monstrous and largely unnoticed crime, the people of West Virginia are left with incredibly contaminated water, worthless land, and no jobs. That water, by the way, technically belongs to the people of West Virginia so you'd think they would have a say in whether or not it gets horribly contaminated forever. But who cares about property rights when there's money to be made!

More energy reaches the surface of Earth every single day from the sun than will be extracted from fossil fuels over their entire history. If we had a modicum of representative government and leadership in this country, a massive initiative would be underway to slap solar panels on every roof, but big coal, big oil, big power, et al run our government for the moment. Time to move toward true freedom (as in free fuel from the sun forever) and independence. It would create a lot of jobs. If we don't do something about this PDQ, we die along with a good chunk of this glorious biosphere. The stakes could not be higher.

Check out this article, then give these good folks some support.

Thanks again to Google.