No less than one hundred and sixty thousand hectares of land in Northern Columbia are treeless due to neighboring coal mines, Freddy Lozano from the Colombian National Union of Workers in the Coal Industry told me last weekend. In West Virginia, three-fourths of the water is unfit to swim in due to heavy metal poisoning. Rates of heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, asthma, and infant mortality are higher in the areas surrounding coal mines, according to Paul Corbit Brown of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation. Wahleah Johns of the Black Mesa Water Coalition, explained how the groundwater in the Navajo community of Black Mesa is polluted because it is used for transport of coal by the Peabody Coal Company. Local communities across the world are impacted on a daily basis by the actions of fossil fuel companies. The movement against climate change is as urgent as ever because the catastrophe is not simply a looming threat. Fossil fuel companies are devastating communities now.
Last week, the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network, a convergence of college students organizing for divestment across the country, invited these three members of affected communities to speak on a panel. The strong connection that each panelist conveyed between their personal identities and the land was a concept that resonated strongly with me. Brown described himself as “genetically a part of the land in Appalachia.” Johns expressed that the Navajo people feel water is “essential to our identities,” and that “we have the responsibility for the caretaking of Mother Earth and Father Sky.” When coal companies abuse the land, they are threatening the very identities of the people who consider that land to be home.
At the heart of coal-mining companies’ abuse of communities is inequality. Lozano spoke of the fact that it is cheaper to produce energy in third world countries because of cheaper labor. Poorer communities are much more affected by coal mining, partially because they do not have the resources to fight back. Both Brown and Johns described their communities as suffering economically. John’s community, Black Mesa, has an unemployment rate of 60 percent. Ironically in a town where coal mines abuse the land to produce power, 20,000 residents of Black Mesa do not even have access to electricity. “Poverty-stricken people have as much right as everyone to quality of life,” Brown stated firmly.
The statistics and personal stories all support one undeniable truth: coal companies are taking advantage of these communities, and they must be removed. This will not be an easy process. Most of the companies provide jobs to their surrounding communities, and if they were to leave, they would leave many people jobless. The reality is, however, that the health costs to communities are far greater than any benefit from jobs in the mining industry. Brown referenced a study that shows that, taking early deaths into account, health costs from coal mining in the Appalachian region are fives times higher than any economic benefit from jobs. In the US alone, coal mines have cost us between $140 and $242 billion a year in public health expenses. Even community members who are aware that the ousting of coal mines would lead to a potential loss of jobs have recognized the abuse and are speaking up for change.
Change, though difficult, is possible. And we have the opportunity to change in a way that leads us to a more just world. Johns is currently working on a project in the Black Mesa community that will replace closed coal mines with solar panels, putting to use 1400 acres that are currently unusable. The infrastructure for this energy already exists from the coal lines, so it will be a natural transition. This project will provide jobs for the Navajo people and will route energy to the residents who do not have access to electricity. This is an example of a just transition: the conversion from an abusive corporate relationship to a local and clean model that will positively impact the community. “When you deprive a community of clean air and clean water, that community is stripped of its sovereignty,” said Brown. “We have to take back our sovereignty.”
What can we, as students, do to support these communities in their fights against the fossil fuel industry? “Take to the streets and make people divest,” cries Lozano. Johns echoed his statement, saying that divestment, “will give our people hope, as right now a lot are hopeless.” “Be aware of your consumption, and the effect on the community on the other side,” said Brown. “This is your world and you can make it in any way you choose.”
I choose a world in which poorer communities are not abused by corporate power, in which identities are not threatened by destruction of land, and in which communities can take their resources and strength and use them for their own people. I choose a world that is fossil-free, and I believe we have the power to make that happen.