Every Mountain is a Sacred Mountain

Otero Mesa, New Mexico has been successfully fighting off the oil and gas industry for ten years. Now it is at risk from mountaintop removal for rare elements.

“We reach our highest peaks only by standing on the shoulders of our mountains.” -Rivera Sun

Mountains are on my mind. Even as the sun greets me over the gorgeous Sangre De Christo Mountains in New Mexico, my birth state, Maine, awakens to find their own peaks threatened by legislation allowing open pit mining and mountaintop removal. Meanwhile, friends in Appalachia are welcoming home their ‘mountain heroes’ who delivered coal-mining poisoned water samples to EPA offices in Washington, D. C. this weekend.

Will it ever stop?

Mountaintop removal and open pit mining are heartbreakingly brutal methods of mineral and fossil fuel extraction.

The shift to a sustainable society looms in front of us like a mountain. Its challenges are etched sharply against the skyline of our current situation. The trail is rocky and steep . . . and yet, the air becomes fresher as we exert ourselves. The pines exalt our efforts. Our strength grows as we climb. This is not a mountain to be conquered. We cannot plant our flag on the highest peak and claim superiority. We must live on the shoulders of our mountains.

We cannot keep tearing the mountains down.

“I have been to the mountaintop,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., referencing the mountaintop that overlooked the promised land. Parables and metaphors resurrect themselves time and again . . . and it seems to me, that the promised land won’t be found by tearing off the tops of mountains. Paradise won’t be found down the road of fossil fuel extraction. It’s not waiting for us at the end of the oil pipeline, nor will poisoning our water and injecting it into the earth make paradise appear like a genie out of a bottle.

Food & Water Watch founder Wenonah Hauter and Rivera Sun swap books. Food & Water Watch is a national organization involved in preventing fracking, GMO’s, and protecting clean water.

Mountains are on my mind because I wrote a social protest novel, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, about the relationship between, coal, climate change, mountaintop removal, and us. Coal is one of the dirtiest and deadliest energy sources, contributing not only to human health issues, but also environmental devastation and climate change. Coal mining and processing affects communities nationwide and although the dire relationship between coal and carbon emissions couldn’t be more clear, coal ports are being built along the Pacific Coast to export coal to China. Activists have been standing up for the mountains for decades. For many Appalachians, fighting mountaintop removal has become a way of life. And with the advent of fracking, tar sands oil extraction, pipelines, and offshore drilling, thousands of communities nationwide are finding themselves in the same boat.

Our collective crisis may be our saving grace.

More and more communities find themselves fighting off major corporations that have unprecedented legal capacities, political power, and economic advantage. However, our potential for support, solidarity, and action is growing in response. Environmental consciousness has never been higher and the recognition of the need for a social paradigm shift has reached a new peak.

We’ve got a steep climb ahead of us. Sustainability has been a dream among the visionary few, but it must now become a reality among us all. The trail is not clear or easy. But the view, my friends, think of that view from the mountaintop! Waiting for us is a world we can only imagine now.

“I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Appalachians stand up for their right to clean water, traveling to Washington D.C. this week to deliver toxic water samples to the EPA.

I woke today with mountains on my mind. Each one is sacred. A mountain’s life stretches into the realms of immortality. Each is larger than any human being will ever be. The promised land can only be seen from the mountaintop. We reach our highest peaks only by standing upon their shoulders.

Please, protect our mountains. Climb toward a sustainable way of life. Lend your voice, heart, and actions anywhere you can. My prayers and gratitude go out to all the people who are participating in actions this week and are signing up for summer events. Thank you. Wage Peace!

Author/Actress Rivera Sun sings the anthem of our times and rallies us to meet adversity with gusto.  Her recent novel, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, celebrates everyday heroes who meet the challenges of climate change with compassion, spirit, and strength. 

APPALACHIA http://appalachiarising.org/residents-bring-dirty-water-from-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining-communities-to-washington/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE

Water samples from sites in Appalachia affected by mountaintop removal.

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION http://350.org

MAINE http://signon.org/sign/oppose-mountain-top-removal

UTAH TAR SANDS http://www.tarsandsresist.org

OTERO MESA, NEW MEXICO http://www.oteromesa.org/take-action/

FOOD & WATER WATCH https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org

THE GREAT TURNING http://joannamacy.net/thegreatturning.html