Bookmarked for further reading. I wish to learn more about this man. Thank you for putting him on my radar.

I thought for sure his death would be notable to at least a few people here. I am now realizing that DUers must not be as familiar with the anti-MTR movement as you would think. Just shows that I and others in the know need to do more educating.

as someone who is 4th gen on the same piece of ground I can so relate to that kind of connection and dedication. for some of us, the land has more meaning than the amount of money you can get for destroying it.

RIP, Larry Gibson.

He joins the 300 ancestors that are buried on that piece of property, most of whose graves he was able to save--unlike the over 100 cemeteries that have been unceremoniously shoved aside in the MTR process.

I am glad to see this thread getting responses. I hope a few more people can get informed about the issue.

.

But I just didn't have the energy to invest in putting all that together again. This is a great image and it puts it all out there very clearly.

I have to leave in a minute. I hope the thread stays alive...here's Larry's story, in his own words.

I'll check and see if I still have time to put it in the OP.

you could ever find.

but there's no question he had a shitload of courage.

It's also too bad that shooting someone's dog isn't a hanging offense, if we're going to have hanging offenses.

I wonder if Justified didn't help bring a little broader awareness of this issue to some who were not wise to it yet. Not that it focused all that much on the ridiculousness of this "death to the environment" practice, but that season was one hell of a season.

on a different note, there are some things about Appalachia I will never understand.

I may ask you in a PM sometime.

But yeah, not much attention.

'My mother gave me birth, but this land gave me life. Growing up here was an adventure every day. I played with my pet bobcat, my fox, my hawk. All of these things, the good Lord provided on this land.

http://josyz.com/USERIMAGES/Larry(2).jpg

But just a stone’s throw away, on that mountaintop removal mining site, you couldn’t find anything alive if you wanted to. It’s bare rock, uninhabitable. Some Native Americans believe we should think seven generations ahead. When you look out on this site, it’s clear we haven’t done that.



Thirty years ago, I said, "Gosh, don’t anybody know what they’re doing out here? How come nobody’s stopping it?" People said, "In six months we’ll have this fixed." It’s been the longest six months of my life. The most common question asked of me is why I keep fighting after 30 years and 7,538 acres lost? It's not complex at all. It's that I'm right. Plain and simple. And mountaintop removal mining is wrong.



But today, things are changing. We are making a difference. Our movement is picking up. People are starting to listen, especially our youth. I hear older folks constantly say that our kids today don’t have direction. I disagree. I’ve spoken to young kids from one end of this country to the other. If you give them the information, and they see mountaintop removal mining, you won’t be able to stop them from trying to end it. And I know we will end it together."



Please share Larry's story, and help him end this:

I'm sorry I didn't post in a thread yet.

The guy is as great a hero as exists out there in the world.

We lost a great American.

Maybe someone, Michael Moore maybe, could do a documentary on his life and the cause for which he was fighting. The media does not cover these issues, so we have to find other ways of getting the information out there.

How very sad that he had to spend his entire life fighting for something that should be a right, the right to live in peace on his own property.

This was really upsetting to read:

None have been quite as high profile as a Michael Moore work. As far as I know (and I could be wrong), nobody was ever charged in the various offenses against Larry, although he was arrested for protesting MTR at a Bush rally a few years back.

crimes like that. It's sad that these stories do not get coverage on the MSM, but then we would have to have a free press rather than the Corporate Media so many people are dependent on for their news.

RIP Larry!

Fuck Mountain Top Removal.
Fuck the bullshit invented meme "clean coal"

his very important life's work!

Seems like no matter where you are you are alone if you want to be.


Larry I take my hat off to you.

--imm

.........that everyone needs to be aware of! Energy companies which extract coal in such manner are nothing more than criminal enterprises. These companies need to be regulated and heavily taxed in order to pay for the destruction and ruin they cause.
It appears Larry Gibson was a man of honor for standing up for what is right. May he rest in peace.

& R

You'll be missed.

and I lack the words to honor him. RIP, good sir. May you be remembered and your work be carried on.

I did hear about his passing - on The Guardian, which is a site from England. Incredible that they had the story but not the U.S. Shameful. The world is a lesser place without Mr. Gibson. RIP, sir.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/10/west-virginia-antimining-larry-gibson

thanks for the reminder

Sadly, I was not aware of him, but it sounds like we lost a brave and amazing person.

May he rest in peace.

along with his obit. I just hope someone will take the reins and continue the fight.

If at first you do not succeed...

You get the idea. I think it worked this time.


Happy to R&K.

RIP Larry Gibson

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I am so sorry he has died; we need more courageous people like him.

is that most of the coal mined in this manner is deliberately raping Appalachia just to export that resource overseas. We're fighting the coal trains up here in the Pacific Northwest, trying to stop the expansion of yet another coal depot, a shipping terminal that loads millions of tons of the black stuff to be hauled straight over to China.

I found this quiet notice of Larry Gibson's passing late last night over in the Videos and Multimedia forum and had to cry...I already knew of him and had been following his heroic efforts to save our mountains for years.

I think a lot of people noticed and were heartbroken at the story. I'd already posted video of one of his actions along with the Matewan story. I've seen and worked to stop the destruction of a similar ecosystem by a multinational corporation, similar methods used, heartbreaking. Some of the people that lived nearby were so heartbroken they moved out of state.

I hope we will honor Larry Gibson by doubling down in our efforts to save our planet and our environment. It was disappointing how little attention was given at the conventions and in the platforms to calling out our leaders and our neighbors to stand up against big oil, big coal and the destruction of our only home.

Last edited Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:28 PM - Edit history (1)

and had a lot of family in the hills of PA and WV. What is being done to that beautiful country is an outrage. K&R

On edit: spelling

Back in 1978 or so. What struck me about the town, which I was unwillingly given a tour of after a cop stopped me on Highway 7 for driving a convertible and hauled me over to the station for being a long-haired hippy-looking type, was that the entire town-- traffic lights, street lights, buildings-- seemed to be caked in coal soot.

hasn't gotten any better

even if I hadn't gotten stopped by that cop. Big coal-burning power plants along the Ohio River, giving the place an unhealthy haze.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why the cop stopped me for driving that convertible-- "Don't you know it's unhealthy to drive through here with your top down?"

I have an uncle there and one in Pittsburg. Plan to do the Blue Ridge Parkway. My wife was born in Texas, and the only other place she has been is the Bahamas. I want to show here what autumn is supposed to look like.

I would love to travel that some day.

Maybe along the way, you could take a tour of Arkansas Highway 7 as well from I-40 northward. It's pretty spectacular in the fall, too

I can't afford the Ohio trip until next year, and Arkansas is within striking distance of Fort Worth. When do the leaves start changing?

Last edited Tue Sep 11, 2012, 12:14 AM - Edit history (1)

Generally speaking, though, in my experience the leaves usually start changing around the first week or so of October. The far northern part of the state generally starts earlier than the area closer to I-40, I think. The most fantastic foliage that I can remember was around October 8 or 9, in the West Fork area along old US Highway 71 between I-40 and Fayetteville. We got off the highway at West Fork and went into the residential area, and there was a very large tree in one yard in particular that was just blazing with red, yellow and orange.

On edit: Here's a video from AETN that shows some nice autumn scenes at 0:36 and again at 2:34

http://www.democraticunderground.com/103921

Every individual who takes a stand counts!

And mountain top removal deserves attention. It deserves to be ended.

the stress from the coal supporters shooting up his house, killing his dog, running his truck off the road, and threatening his life almost constantly contributed to his dying from a heart attack at such a young age. the coal industry is killing in many ways. RIP, Larry Gibson. as a former resident and eternal spiritual resident of West Virginia, thank you for all you did to save our beautiful mountains.

but will kick this for a true hero.

thank you

I am aware of MTR, but mostly through the efforts (and fundraising information) from Robert Kennedy, Jr.

RIP, Mr. Gibson.

This is a HUGE issue, like fracking and sand-mining here in the river valley.

If you've never seen the results of mountaintop removal mining, you wouldn't believe the unbelievable and irreversable destruction.

...leaves me shaking my head.

This is the organization that Larry founded to fight MTR.

http://mountainkeeper.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

We are losing the war the people raping the land are winning. But, in the end mother nature has ways of attrition. The problem is real people will die due to corporate profits coming before everything else, before the environment, the health of people in the area. They just don't care. So, the poorest of the poor will suffer the most since they are in these areas where the worst environmental damage is done. But, eventually areas that are more desirable ie where rich people live will suffer as well and much hand wringing will be done. Those that are on the front lines would say I told you so, but many will have long ago been buried, because of health problems due to the environment being destroyed. In the mean time I weep for the wolves as they are legal to hunt now.

I have a dear friend from WV staying in my home for the summer. He's here working trying to make enough money to save his small family farm (Hurricane/Nitro area). Kindest man I've ever known. The only time I've ever seen him really angry, was seeing the coal miners standing (by threat) behind Mitt Romney. The cruelty and devastation these people have suffered at the hands of corporations and politicians is beyond my ability to express.

I don't know if there is another soul to fill the shoes of Larry Gibson, and for that I weep.

May he RIP.

Made by pickupamerica.org

they discussed this on today's Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. I heard the preview and thought of this thread that I saw here yeserday from you.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/11/headlines#91113

This desecration of the environment is a way of doing coal extraction that never, ever should have been allowed. I appreciate his hard work to try and make a difference.