Appalachian mining- effects on attitudes towards sustainability

Introduction

Appalachian mining communities’ historical interactions with coal, oil, and other resource extraction industries have resulted in several changes to both the physical and social environment of rural Appalachia.

Community views of incoming aid and potential future resource extraction companies are well documented and show a significant distrust and hesitation towards outside influences that could leave the community with another issue or drain on resources in short supply. Rural Appalachian communities are some of the most impoverished and underdeveloped in the United States, in large part because of coal and oil companies’ practices in exploiting the region’s resources and labor.

This contrast between disadvantage and distrust of outside influence creates an environment where aid initiatives can fail, despite the benefits they may have in aiding a community harmed by predatory environmental practices.

Coal Industry

Appalachian coal mining is the second largest source of coal in the United States, and utilizes a variety of extraction methods like mountaintop removal, shaft mining, and fracking, to acquire coal, oil, and natural gas, which has fueled American industrialization for more than a century. This industry is infamously predatory, and in counties where mining remains the primary employer, unemployment rates are between ten and fourteen percent, higher than the national average of 3.4% by as much as three to four times (Salcă, 2019).

Land Health

One of the most significant effects of mining operations is damages to ‘land health,’ which defines the capacity of a place or land to restore itself- mining operations in Appalachia like mountaintop removal completely remove the ability of the environment to perform self-renewal and affects the people around the land in both physical, mental, and emotional ways (Salcă, 2019).

Personal Damages

Land health isn’t the only system affected by environmental concerns in Appalachia: 1.9 million Appalachian residents live with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), with COPD mortality rates 27% above national markers in Central Appalachia, and the effects stem from several factors- opioid and drug usage, occupation, access to care, and harmful environmental conditions (Stellefson et al. 2020).

How do mining communities attitudes towards coal and oil companies affect sustainability initiatives in rural Appalachia?

The Spiral of Silence is the theoretical framework used in this research proposal. Described by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann in 1984, the spiral of silence explains situations where a person in conflict with an event will resist speaking out against that event if their view is not in line with the perceived majority. In rural Appalachia, the perceived majority is to resist change, including sustainability initiatives. In this theoretical framework, fear of isolation from community bonds is the primary driver of silence. Social identity is a vital part of understanding Appalachian cultural ties and helps to explain the divide between personal viewpoint and willingness to speak out.

The larger the perceived discrepancy is, the less likely a person within the minority viewpoint is to speak out. In opposition to the large-scale effects and job providing industrial role coal and oil has in rural Appalachia, perceived differences in opinion grow larger and larger. This in turn exacerbates the effect of silence on environmental protection initiatives, which have always been hallmarked by their requirement for active and meaningful participation.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, this isn’t a story unique to Appalachia. Ghana, Sierra Leone, Chile: rural mining areas all over the world experience similar predatory resource extraction methods, and understanding the causes, effects, responses, and impacts of these communities can help create a picture of what sustainability initiatives’ responses to community attitudes looks like globally as well as regionally. Rural sustainability initiatives provide a vital component to healthy community development and discourse (Bender and Kerstetter, 2020), and in cases where those initiatives are threatened by relationships with the land and companies in a region, a significant loss of community opportunity is present.

The compounding effect of an industry harmful to the environment, vital to the economy of the region, and a severe disparity in vocal opinion creates a 'perfect storm' for environmental damages in rural Appalachia. Sustainability initiatives designed to reduce the impact of resource extraction fail or are hindered by the very nature of the industry they seek to correct.

This research proposal highlights the significance of meaningful participation in sustainability efforts, and emphasizes the value that education and awareness can have in removing the barriers of silence that prevent progress in regenerative sustainability practices.

References

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Stellefson, M., Wang, M. Q., Balanay, J. A. G., & Wu, R. (2020). Health Risk Disparities among Employed Adults with COPD Living in Central Appalachian U.S. States. American Journal of Health Education, 51(5), 265–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2020.1802373

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