A STEEP Climb Lies Ahead
Nov 13, 2017
The biggest part of the Show and Tell Energy Education Project (STEEP) is showing and telling about the deadly and destructive impacts from mountaintop removal and other abuses by the coal industry. This is the way things are, and clean, renewable energy is how things should be. When we get the solar electric array installed at the Judy Bonds Center, we’ll be powered by the sun instead of coal. We’ll be showing that off, hosting an open house, and educating our neighbors and the world that solar works. This is a sharp contrast to mountains being blasted to dust, streams running orange or black, and multi-billion gallon sludge dams looming ominously over communities. These need to be seen to be believed, and believed to be ended. 
We still need a lot of help to do the showing and telling. We’ve raised enough to cover the initial installation of the solar array, but not enough yet to cover the battery backup or the showing and telling. Having raised $21,280, we still need to raise $38,720 by the end of 2017 to qualify for a challenge grant of $10,000. Please take the STEEP challenge by chipping in at http://crmw.net/donate.php. Thank you!
The Show and Tell Energy Education Project (STEEP) will install a solar photovoltaic (PV) system at the Judy Bonds Center for Appalachian Preservation in Naoma, WV, publicize the installation, and educate about the viability of clean energy as an affordable and reliable source of energy and employment. By replacing the 9,409 kWh per year of coal-fired electricity with clean solar generation, we will keep over 10,000 pounds of coal in the ground and over 19,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. We will inform people locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally by hosting an open house, hosting journalists, sending press releases, posting on social media, hosting student groups, and speaking about the project at colleges and other speaking venues. With battery backup, we can be a valuable community resource when (not "if") the next disaster knocks out power to the community. The Judy Bonds Center, right across the road from the Naoma post office, can be that community gathering place where residents can charge their phones, check in with loved ones, check emergency updates, have a hot meal, have a hot shower, and, if necessary, spend the night in one of our 16 beds.
Mountaintop removal is the cradle of the climate crisis, devastating carbon-sink forests while extracting climate-crippling coal, as well as a deadly public health threat. However, MTR has recently slipped from public awareness. Highly publicized coal company bankruptcies, premature media declarations of King Coal’s death, and other factors have led to a widespread misconception that MTR is over. The reality, though is that MTR continues, with over 10 square miles of destruction active, permitted, or pending on Coal River Mountain alone, threatening the health of residents and the viability of communities. The coal industry has also popularized the myths that renewable energy does not work and that there are no economic alternatives to coal.
STEEP will reverse this trend of misinformation. While we continue to educate the public about the persistent problems of mountaintop removal and coal use, we are adding a focus on the positive solutions available.
For years, we have traveled to speak at colleges and other opportunities to raise awareness. We have hosted journalists, filmmakers, writers, and student groups to show MTR and related industry activities firsthand. The student groups that we host usually take part in service projects with our Tadpole Project to clean the junk and trash from our river and tributaries.
We began improving the energy efficiency of the Judy Bonds Center in 2015, adding insulation and filling in cracks. In 2017 we replaced the old lighting with efficient LED fixtures.
In an area frequented by natural and industrial disasters, we want to be able to keep operating and serve the public’s needs when disaster strikes. In the heart of "coal country," we can demonstrate that such systems do work, regardless of coal industry claims to the contrary. And there is no more visible location in our community than the Judy Bonds Center, located across the street from the Naoma, WV post office. The sun, not coal, will be keeping our lights on.
Thank you for your support!
#KeepItInTheGround #SaveCoalRiverMountain #EndMTR
