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There's Something About Appalachia...
- 1. There’s Something About Appalachia… Tom Weinandy Appalachian Institute
- 2. Overview • What is Appalachia? • Culture • Politics/Economics • Energy/Environment • Health • Making a Difference!
- 3. Appalachia
- 4. CULTURE
- 6. History
- 7. Boom and Bust Economies
- 8. Labor Unions
- 9. POLITICS & ECONOMICS “A Rich Place with Poor People”
- 10. •US electricity= 45% from coal •WV electricity= 98% from coal •Coal provides 53,000 jobs throughout entire region. In some counties it’s as high as 40-50% of employment. •Appalachian coal mining made $720 million in taxes in 2005. Coal is King!
- 11. Poverty Rates Despite coal mining more than 100 counties remain in poverty West Virginia: 50th in average family income
- 12. Unemployment Rates Economy of extreme highs and lows
- 16. Natural Gas -- Fracking Good or bad? Marcellus Shale
- 17. 1st adult current smokers 2nd obesity rates (adults) Health 1st diabetes 6th low birth weight 1st loss of all teeth by age 65 46th life expectancy
- 20. Appalachian Institute Tom Weinandy at Wheeling Jesuit University tweinandy@wju.edu wju.edu/ai Twitter: @tomweinandy
Editor's Notes
- Appalachian Region is defined by the Appalachian Commission which was established in 1965 to promote economic development in the region. It contains parts of 12 states and all of 1, West Virginia. The Region includes 420 counties. It extends more than 1,000 miles, from southern New York to northeastern Mississippi, and is home to 24.8 million people. (ARC.gov)
- You can’t talk about Appalachia until you review its rich culture and traditions. From clogging and bluegrass music to the peoples’ deep roots in nature.
- In order to truly connect with the wonders of Appalachia, one must take advantage of the many outdoor activities. Ie: visiting state parks, atv trails, white water rafting, rock climbing, kayaking, etc.
- A history of frontier life, oppression, and struggle against outsiders, especially in the coal mining region.
- Note: The labor movement within Appalachia was a combination of disgruntled employees (due to poor working conditions, scrip payment (money that could only be used at coal company stores)), child labor, and concerned activists like Mother Jones (Most Dangerous Woman in America).
- WV ranks highest in employed (around 20,000 people) and second in production. Wyoming almost quadruples us in production, but does it with only 5,000 people. This is the future of coal: mechanization.
- Within Appalachian, over 500 mountains have been affected by MTR. Millions of pounds of dynamite are used nad machines weighing over 8 million pounds blow up the mountain and then scoop the “overburden” into near by valleys. Creating valley fills. These fills permanantly change the landscape and ecology of the land. These valleys are home to head water streams (very important). Currently over 2,000 miles of streams have been buried.
- The picture on the right depicts a typical natural gas rig site. Many sites require some sort of forest displacement because of the need for access roads, drill pads, fracking ponds, and tail-end ponds.
- NOW GO!