Primary documentation of the effects of strip-mining for coal on a West Virginia community. Gas Drilling and Strip-Mining affect communities health. This website is an outstanding example of the human aspect of sacrifices for energy and power production that may not be necessary.
Aurora Lights supports locally-based projects that strengthen the connections within and between human communities and their natural environment by promoting environmental and social action. See also: Aurora Lights Home.
“What we got going on here in Rock Creek is a little school in Sundial, W.Va., called Marsh Fork Elementary and it’s being surrounded by a coal mining processing plant and a toxic waste impoundment and also a mountaintop removal site,” said Rock Creek resident Ed Wiley. He used to work at the processing plant and his granddaughter, Kayla, attended Marsh Fork Elementary.
The toxic waste impoundment and processing plant are all operated by the Goals Coal Co., a subsidiary of Massey Energy. The 1849-acre mountaintop removal mine that surrounds the school and dam is operated by two other Massey subsidiaries, Independence Coal and Alex Energy.
See also: Code Black: Coal’s Assault on America’s Health Campaign | PSR (Physicians for Social Responsibility)
See update: Aurora Lights is now Mountain Stewardship and Outdoor Leadership (SOL)
Our mission is to connect with the natural world and cultivate leaders for a just and resilient Appalachia.
“You can’t protect anything until you love it. The spirit of Mountain SOL is based in fun and adventure, so kids learn environmental stewardship and social responsibility from a place of passion.” -Jen-Osha Buysse, Mountain SOL Director
Mountain Stewardship and Outdoor Leadership School, or Mountain SOL School, was founded in 2014 as an extension of Aurora Lights, a West Virginia environmental non-profit. Since it’s beginning in 1998, Aurora Lights has been leading programs in a variety of environmental stewardship and outdoor leadership topics, and Mountain SOL School is its effort to guide our next generation on the path of environmental awareness, leadership, and building a supportive community.
Mountain SOL School is about connection- connection to oneself, connection to friends, to community, and to the greater circle of life. We strive to give students the opportunity to learn not only practical skills and knowledge such as wilderness survival skills and concepts of nature and the environment, but also teamwork, leadership, and a passion to protect the natural world and cultivate a community of support and acceptance. Our graduated students are able to use their skills to support the community, whether it’s a quick-thinking response to an unexpected emergency first aid situation, helping run a free herbal clinic, or simply offering support to our fellow humans.
Mountain SOL School currently offers three branches of programs: integrated in-school classroom programs with our partner, Morgantown Learning Academy, afterschool programs open to all local students, and summer camps also open to all local students. Additionally, we teach evening or weekend classes for both adults and older students. Our classes are hands-on and allow for unstructured time in the woods as well as experiences in stewardship and self-led exploration. We have programs in Morgantown for kids grades two through twelve, and we have opportunities for our older students to develop more advanced skills through our four paths, the graduation of which gives them an attainable goal to work towards. We also offer a track to guide students into becoming teachers of our school, mentoring and working with them using specific goals and requirements to help guide them on the journey into responsible adulthood.
Our programs teach skills and knowledge across 4 broad categories of outdoor and environmental education.
We teach Concepts of Nature:
- WV wildflower, plant and tree identification
- WV animals, their life cycles and tracks
- Food web, predator/prey interactions
- Stream and forest ecology
- Seasonal cycles of local plants, animals and climate
We teach Wilderness & Outdoor skills:
- Fire-building
- Map-reading and navigation
- Shelter construction
- Wild edibles foraging
- Wilderness First Aid
- Herbalism
We teach Environmental Stewardship:
- Home and community gardening
- Developing wildlife habitat
- Forest conservation
- Watershed restoration
- Species preservation
We teach Natural Fitness and Healthy Lifestyle:
Self-confidence and self-esteem
Strength and agility
Balance and coordination
See: Changing a Water Filter in Prenter Hollow, WV.
See: WATER | Aurora Lights. Public Health & Coal Slurry – Water Quality ::: Journey Up Coal River
See: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering
See: Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining
See: Mountaintop Removal
See: Coal River
See: Breaking news: EPA vetoes Spruce Mine permit
See: Triana Energy
