WHAT: Welcome to the Saudi Arabia of Coal
WHEN: 8 p.m. tomorrow, 2 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Mitchell Auditorium, Seigfred Hall
ADMISSION: Free
Multimedia production Welcome to the Saudi Arabia of Coal will be presented this weekend in an effort to raise awareness about the negative effects of using coal for energy.
The performance, which was written by Jeff Biggers of the Coal-Free Future Project, is free and will be presented at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 2 p.m. Sunday in Mitchell Auditorium in Seigfred Hall. The Ohio University Sierra Student Coalition and the OU Beyond Coal Campaign brought it to campus.
A goal of the OU Beyond Coal Campaign is to encourage the university to switch from coal to an alternative source of energy to heat and cool the campus, said Badger Johnson, a third year student studying applied ecology and member of the campaign.
OU gets almost all its energy and heating from coal
Johnson said. Any environmental damage that is done as a result of that we are personally responsible for.
The production uses video clips as a backdrop for the theatrical performance and tells the story of a couple whose family's homestead is threatened by plans for mountaintop removal, a form of coal mining that removes sections of a mountain's surface.
We're bringing the stories from the front lines of the coal fields to stages across the country and so we thought the best way to capture that was through a multimedia experience using film
music
theater and spoken word
Biggers said.
Coal mining affects those living in rural and urban areas in ways that range from climate destabilization to the loss of human life - an example being the recent deaths of coal miners in West Virginia, Biggers said.
Part of our play is to show the long history of coal in our lives - especially in the Ohio River Valley - and how we really need to have a reckoning of the true cost of coal today
Biggers said. We not only need to recognize the sacrifices that it takes to get coal ... but also our responsibility in making sure we have a sustainable way of getting our energy.
The Beyond Coal Campaign will be at the performance collecting student signatures to petition OU to move beyond coal.
Students just need to start the discussion of how you can work towards a coal-free future in your generation
Biggers said. It's not just going to happen; it's going to happen through a lot of hard work.
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