Comments on: Hazard Herald Asks the Big Questions https://mtassociation.org/uncategorized/hazard-herald-asks-the-big-questions/ Building a New Economy, Together. Tue, 07 Jul 2020 20:21:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Chris Chaney https://mtassociation.org/uncategorized/hazard-herald-asks-the-big-questions/#comment-25 Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://maced.kypolicy.org/uncategorized/hazard-herald-asks-the-big-questions/#comment-25 The state (and the world) would be better off with the complete eradication of mountaintop removal mining as an industry. The jobs lost would be few in comparison to losses in other industries and with the cessation of the massively destructive processes in obtaining coal in that way would allow for more viable and sustainable options for employment for the residents, as well as give them a better environment to live in.

The state of Kentucky, especially Eastern Kentucky, should fully embrace eco-tourism, adventure-tourism and agri-tourism and rebuild the landscape into something (sustainably) attractive to visitors and profitable for citizens. Other states in the region have utilized the natural beauty and the rich heritage of the Appalachian region to their advantage in ways that Kentucky (and WV) could emulate and be as successful, if not moreso.

As a state citizenry we should “Create beauty; [not] be an agent of its destruction.” (Dan Chiras, author of The New Ecological Home)

Kentucky has long enough been downtrodden and overlooked as an economic player. Kentuckians should stand firm, demand better opportunities while throwing out destructive practices like mountaintop removal, and seize their own destinies with both hands and create a landscape and communities to be proud of.

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