3-4-2012- down by the river

       this is a series of photos i shot one day while i was on my coal tour. starting from home here,and passing acre after acre of reclaimed coal mines mimicking a former vision of themselves in  their unnatural form. their level plateaus where man's machines topped the hillsides leaving tame sloped infertile treeless bare slopes incapable of producing much in the way of anything more than cover to arrest the erosive effects of the rainfall on this land. i cant see how this land , can claim to be better than it was before. the absorption power of reclaim versus forest floor are in no way similar, with the forest floor acting like a sponge soaking up any excess moisture nourishing the tree roots and giving very little to the stream in terms of runoff. 

        the increased surface moisture is either absorbed into the soil, nourishing tree roots and vegetation , or evaporated into the atmosphere, only to be caught by the tree canopy. now we have lifeless grass plains with hopefully enough cover to hold off the advances of erosion. to maintain a lush green environment on reclaimed land requires major use of fertilizers , and lime to sweeten the soil . pine trees seem to thrive and may be best suited the soils . other option would be to bring in  soils specific to what you are growing and place only in row you are working on. by this way you may be able to do some good on reclaim land. will do some experiments with growing blackberries on strip land for a pick your own operation later this year.  this is part of the problem we will have to deal with in the future as life moves on. we need these areas reseeded with trees as  soon as possible to make up the difference  of increased CO2 or carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. 

       from the back side of the farm to the ohio river is a path of endless strip mine sites and i can prove that i can drive along ohio, roadsides and can look and see as far as the eye can see the devatating effects that strip mining has had on our state alone. i would say i am about 120 miles away from the river . all along st. rt 800 to the south until i reach st rt. 250 and head to st clairsville, ohio along the ohio river, from there and all along you will see the devastating effects of coal mining. hundreds of thousand of acres of brush and grasses, sometimes pastured . we not only lost the shape and form of the land , but untold amounts of timber, top soil , and vegetation as well as animal habitats, and generations of animals killed in the process of mining. and in the end we must remember we needed this to happen to win wars , avoid unemployment make jobs , and create a rising temperature in our earths planet thanks to our greedy ways to assure we have a light on in the back of the refrigerator.

       the coal buys the diesel the coal barge relies on to push their loads up the ohio from mountains in kentucky or coal mines in west virgina to the power  plants along the ohio river. ,now as tighter regulations makes using  coal from high sulfur mines more cost prohibitive. meeting the new government restrictions is leading to power plant closures all over the united states as power companies are fnally becoming responsible. still vast swaths of city lights and street lights can be seen from as far away as outer space. do we need people out there running around in mans name 24 hours /day and do we have to leave the lights on for them. 

     they say it is a deterrent to crime but seems with all these lights on in the city then crime should be down . actually i think it helps them find that hole in the fence , or that be able to insert their crowbar in the door. , but just maybe without any lights at night they may not be able to see you sitting in dark cleaning your 45. i think we need to ask ourselves as i am in my eleventh hour is all these lights necessary or are we just putting people to work and making profit?

       through this all we can find ways to make new money and still have a cleaner place to live and possibly restore some of the damage done. a check off box would allow you to make a deduction to save our forests and plant 2 trees in every taxpayers name. this would designate that trees planted by non profit groups would be allowed to be deducted from taxes up to 10 dollars of your return. there would be strict limits on overhead assuring that 8dollars of that money would be used to buy trees and 2dollars  to the non non profit for actually planting the tree and overhead. an energy tax should or could be applied to all energy users, on the grid. this would have a dual effect as it would increase the bill while reducing the usage off conventional power grids. and it would also increase the use of solar and wind generation of electricity or by using on demand generators in off the grid applications. and we need to to turn the devastating effects of strip mining around make it advantageous for farmers to return their highly erosive land back to the wooded area and a reflection of itself. 

      we need to rethink this whole energy thing , and get ourselves back on the right track as mankind goes. we need to find peace with nature and learn to live with nature. nature and physics provide us with the answers if we know where to look and what to look for . man just needs to work smarter not harder. i dont 

 know the answers but have lots of questions . like' do you think when i stand up against this power plant does it make my eyes blue or red? '