Jake Blumgart conducted an excellent interview with Ohioan anti-coal activist Elisa Young that was recently published on CampusProgress.org. Check out the excerpt below:
[Elisa] Young attended Powershift ’09 late last month to speak on several panels, and Campus Progress caught up with her to ask her a few questions about the health effects of power plants, her local victories, and the fact that coal simply doesn’t lead to prosperity for the people of Appalachia.
Campus Progress: What are some ways have you tried to raise awareness about coal’s effect on your community? Have you had any victories?
Elisa Young: Back in 2006, I won an international women’s award from the Women of Peacepower Foundation that was for taking people on what we call “True Cost of Coal Tours,” and also for community organizing efforts. The tours were done for the specific reason of helping people witness what was going on in Appalachia at the hands of the coal industry. To show people that it is the entire cycle of coal that is causing problems. These companies have a parasitic relationship, sending power to places where they will never see the effects, where they will never get sick and die. It isn’t about doing one thing a little differently. If you don’t live there then you really don’t hear about those things, and if people don’t even realize there is a problem, then we’re never going to have any change.
Read the interview here.
I’ve known Elisa for a year now. She has the most difficult situation to deal with, and she gets so little help from the outside, even from some of the big environmental groups. Want to know what CCS actually means? Talk to her – its bad.
I’d highly recommend reading more about her and her work in Meigs County, OH, and get to know her if you have the chance. You won’t regret it.