After its spring visit for Earth Month 2010 had people buzzing over social change, the Beehive Collective will return to Ohio University today to present its new graphic campaign, The True Cost of Coal.
The Beehive Collective is an all-volunteer organization from Machias, Maine, whose mission is to cross-pollinate the grassroots by educating the public with metaphorical illustrations. From plants to ants and everything in between, these illustrations show the consequences of modern society's environmental practices.
The group has traveled around the country presenting its graphic campaigns. Its latest project concerns the effects of mountaintop removal and coal exploitation, which it says is particularly prevalent in Appalachia.
According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), more than 500 mountains distributed over 1.2 million acres - or roughly 10 percent of the region - have been claimed by coal companies in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee.
The method of mountaintop removal, which involves blasting a mountain to uncover coal and bulldozing debris from the blast into the streams below, is responsible for producing 40-45 percent of coal in Central Appalachia, according to the NRDC.
People all over the world need to know that coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world and that it's one of the main contributors to climate change
said Tyler Norman, a Beehive Collective volunteer.
Ted Bernard, who has been an environmental studies professor at OU for 30 years, said although his students seem shocked by the effects of coal, he questions whether they are motivated enough to take a stand against the issue.
A few do feel passionately and are active but the rest - our society generally I think - are sadly complacent
Bernard said. Most OU students haven't a clue about the backlinks of warming up their soup in the microwave.
Sonia Marcus, director of OU's Office of Sustainability, said the positive feedback from the Beehive Collective's presentation in April compelled the department to invite it back.
Students tend to be blown away by the quality of the drawings as well as the complexity of the information and relationships that the bees are able to relate
Marcus said.
The Beehive Collective's picture-lecture will explore the history of pollination beginning with the industrial revolution, the effects of mountaintop removal on the world as well as the Appalachian region, social resistance and, finally, regeneration of communities that have suffered from the coal industry.
Hopefully
it will be information that will make folks feel inspired to work toward getting all of us off of our coal addiction
Norman said.
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Culture
Olivia Young
