This summer, I was asked a very serious question by a very dear cousin of mine about the future of Appalachia: Will I have a hometown in the next 10 to 20 years?
I found it hard to answer that. It's not that the future of our region has not been a huge question mark within my lifetime, leaving the fate of its towns and communities unknown. It's not that the idea of entire communities disappearing hasn't been discussed and/or alluded to. I just hadn't heard it put so frankly and so sincerely before. And I suppose I also hadn't ever really questioned whether or not a community would cease to exist.
She asked me this in July, but I honestly haven't stopped thinking about it.
It's not as if her question comes completely unwarranted. One only has to pay attention to the news to understand why someone would wonder about the fate of Appalachia. The coal industry has been mired by boom and bust cycles from the very beginning. There have always been years of prosperity, followed by years of dire straights. That's just the nature of the beast.
But the current bust cycle carries with it a different flavor of desperation that the region hasn't really ever tasted. Cheap, easily accessible natural gas deposits from Pennsylvania to Wyoming are making coal a waste of the energy industry's time and effort. Increasing public concern about man-made climate change, followed by stricter environmental regulations on carbon dioxide emissions, weighs heavily on an industry who's job it is to pollute land, air and water. Coal reserves that have sustained the Central Appalachian coal industry have been very nearly depleted, making the remaining coal very hard to mine. Industry representatives, political leaders and scientists all agree that Appalachian coal will be gone within my lifetime.
Thousands of coal miners have been laid off since January from jobs that will never return. This leaves thousands of people, who once had one of the best-paying jobs in the region, without a way to feed their families. They have very little options. Go back to school, or leave to find work elsewhere. If you ask me, those are no options at all, especially if you are among the older miners who were hired before companies started requiring high school diplomas.
Today, I listened to an interview with Gary Bentley, a Letcher County coal miner who was laid off by Arch Coal Inc. in June. The interview is part of WMMT's Making Connections program, and was 11 minutes worth of Appalachian coal miner frustration at living in a region whose elected leaders won't do anything to search for opportunities outside the coal industry. After all, how could a politician stick a thorn in the side of the very industry that pays for his or her election?
Bentley now has to drive five and a half hours from Whitesburg to Owensboro to work at a Western Kentucky mine, one week on and one week off. That means, two weeks away from his family every month. Two weeks away from his community every month. Two weeks away from home every month. Just so he can make enough money to support his family.
He explains his situation very simply by saying it's not fair for coal industry folks to come into Appalachia, make billions of dollars, and then leave the people of the region with nothing. He's also angry with his local, state and regional political leaders for seeing the signs of coal's decline in the region and doing nothing to stand up for Appalachia and the people who call it home. There are no other opportunities for a laid-off miner within the region, so they have to leave.
It would seem things are not looking positive for my home region.
But...
With great change comes great opportunity.
I am a board member for the Mountain Association for Community and Economic Development in Berea, Ky., and in our meetings we constantly discuss the future of the region. What will it look like? What opportunities will be available? How will we get there? Who will lead the charge? It's always on the collective mind of MACED. I like that. I like knowing that there is a group of dedicated, passionate and extremely knowledgeable individuals who are working daily to help Appalachia reach it's full potential.
There is a whole slew of young people who are bucking the trend, as one of my professors would say, and opting to remain in Appalachia rather than leave on the brain-drain train. They are working with organizations like the STAY Project and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Appalachian Media Institute to transform the region into what they want it to be.
There are countless nonprofit organizations in the region who are working every single day - including the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, Appalshop and Grow Appalachia - to transform the region and create other avenues beside the mono-economy that has dominated it for decades.
There are amazing things happening, and right now is the time to look on the region with hope. We're at a precipice of change. We're standing on the peak of a mountain. Behind us is the past, dominated by the coal industry; before us is the future, filled with opportunity. Now is not the time to give up or resign ourselves to the idea that if we lose the coal industry, we lose everything. This is only the beginning of a bright, bright future.
I know some might wonder why I fight every single day for the future of Appalachia, or why I wouldn't just move on like so many others have done. There's a simple answer to that. I stay here, and I fight for this place so people like Gary Bentley won't have to drive "five and a half hours from home" to work every other week. So people like my cousin will have a hometown to come back to in 10 to 20 years. So my people, who have been exploited, spit on, trampled, used, abused, oppressed, demeaned, and told they live in a "national sacrifice zone" will be able to reach their full potential, rise above and continue to grow magnificent trees of life, happiness and healthy futures from the deep, deep roots planted by our ancestors, who also fought tooth and nail to save their future.
I work toward a better Appalachia because I fully believe that there is no nobler and no greater task for my life than to give it up to the region that gave me everything I am and ever will be. I owe Appalachia everything, and I will give her everything I have, for all the days of my life.
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