appalachia
GRITtv: Sept. 28 2010
This past week saw protests against mountaintop removal and strip mining around the US. GRITtv coal correspondent Jeff Biggers attended one in Illinois, while around 100 people were arrested in front of the White House, including climate scientist James Hansen. There's no enthusiasm gap, Biggers notes, when it comes to the anti-coal protesters, many of whom have been fighting the destruction of their communities for decades. Biggers checks in with us via Skype from southern Illinois, where he's been covering the protests, and discusses the next move for anti-coal activists and the Obama administration. Speaking of coal miners and activism, Richard Trumka has a message for all the so-called progressives who don't actually look out for working people: "We can't be a world-class economy unless we make things." It's the key to rebuilding our infrastructure after years of neglect, after what he notes was "the party the rich had that we didn't get to go to," to helping to stabilize the climate and most importantly, to digging us out of the economic hole we're in. Creating jobs, green jobs, innovative manufacturing jobs, he argues, could solve all of that. Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO, but he became known to many Americans through the fiery speech he gave to the Steelworkers' union against racism and in favor of Barack Obama. He joined Laura in the GRITtv studio for a frank conversation about jobs, the economy, and Obama's administration.
Email this pageGRITtv: Jeff Biggers: Uprising Against Coal Mining
This past week saw protests against mountaintop removal and strip mining around the U.S.--GRITtv coal correspondent Jeff Biggers attended one in Illinois, while around 100 people were arrested in front of the White House, including climate scientist James Hansen. There's no enthusiasm gap, Biggers notes, when it comes to the anti-coal protesters, many of whom have been fighting the destruction of their communities for decades. Biggers checks in with us via Skype from southern Illinois, where he's been covering the protests, and discusses the next move for anti-coal activists and the Obama administration.
GRITtv: Apr. 16 2010
Elizabeth Streb has been called "superhuman" because her choreography is more extreme sport than dance performance. Pushing boundaries, testing limits, redefining pain and strength--this is what she does every day, and her work has received multiple awards, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award. In her new book from the Feminist Press, Streb explains how she came to dance as a method of expression, and why action matters. She joins Laura in studio for a special interview about action, dance, art and culture in society, and when it was that she first knew she wanted to fly. What kind of a house does a man who has lived in a 6' by 9' box for 30 years dream of? That's the provocative question asked by this week's Got Doc feature, "The House That Herman Built." Herman Wallace, a member of the Black Panther party, has been in solitary confinement for over 38 years in the Louisiana prison system. In 2003, artist Jackie Sumell asked Herman this simple question, and this documentary traces the growth of Herman's house from art project toward reality.
GRITtv: Apr. 13 2010
As the community around the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia mourns its dead and papers report that miners are not being allowed to attend their friends' funerals, S&P Equity Research upgraded the company's stock from a "hold" to a "buy." Just another example of profits before people, notes Jeff Biggers, author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland. Biggers joins us via Skype to talk about the tragedy at the Massey Energy mine and the legacy of coal, and warns that while it might be easy to point fingers at Massey's egregious violations of safety rules and its grandstanding CEO Don Blankenship, the entire mining culture is fraught with the same problems. Dawn Johnsen was one of Barack Obama's most progressive nominees; a strong voice for the rule of law, her nomination to the Office of Legal Counsel would have been clear message to the world that the days of torture memos and overreaching executive power were behind the U.S. So when she withdrew her nomination after over a year without a Senate vote, progressives and civil libertarians were distressed--not least because of the administration's apparent lack of willingness to fight for its stellar nominee.
GRITtv: Jeff Biggers: Beyond Blankenship
As the community around the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia mourns its dead and papers report that miners are not being allowed to attend their friends' funerals, S&P Equity Research upgraded the company's stock from a "hold" to a "buy." Just another example of profits before people, notes Jeff Biggers, author of "Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland." Biggers joins us via Skype to talk about the tragedy at the Massey Energy mine and the legacy of coal, and warns that while it might be easy to point fingers at Massey's egregious violations of safety rules and its grandstanding CEO Don Blankenship, the entire mining culture is fraught with the same problems. GRITtv with Laura Flanders brings participatory democracy onto your computer screen and into your living room, bridging the gap between audience and advocates. Watch any show, at any time: http://grittv.org Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Jeff Biggers Uncovers the Devastating History of Coal Mining
Writer and environmental activist Jeff Biggers' latest book, Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland, tells of his journey into his own family's history in the mountains of Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. He uncovers the devastating environmental destruction of those mountains taking place today, and exposes the truth about coal. In addition to being an award-winning author, Biggers is a contributing editor to The Bloomsbury Review, he regularly blogs for the Huffington Post and Grist, and is co-founder of the theater company, Coal Free Future Project.
GRITtv: Huffington Post Examines the Appalachian Uninsured
The Huffington Post Investigative Fund looks at the issue of the uninsured in rural Virginia Appalachia.
