by Ben Zolno

Why the hell talk about coal mining on a Permaculture site?  Especially a solutions-oriented blog?

Because you can’t permify land that’s no longer there.

The first step to Permaculture is observation of a site — TAPO or PATO, aka Thoughtful and Protracted Observation.  Imagine observing that the water on your new land is unusable because of coal mining pollution from up stream.  Imagine getting cancer from the toxic chemical floating through the air that lands on your tomatoes.  F all that — Imagine your land ripped away by coal mining companies with politicians in their pocket.  Imagine your land exploding, your soil being dumped into the creek.

How’s your Permaculture working now?  The answer is “not at all,” because you didn’t join the fight to stop one of the biggest environmental atrocities of our time — Mountain Top Removal.

Rainforest Action Network’s theatrical, viral action (like below)  gets the word out.  Huge banks do not have to be convinced to stop funding.  Just the right people at those banks, and this is a small chip in embarrassing those people.  Get your hands dirty — spread the word via your facebooky twittery thingies.

See more about the event at Yes Men’s site and more about MTR Action Day on October 30.

More about Mountain Top Removal.