Gang, if you can go to this Special Presentation, PLEASE DO! It is shocking what is currently going on in Appalachia, and most of the people in that area are too poor to fight to protect their once healthy mountains being destroyed & losing everything from their food & water supply to just plain fresh air. It is a travesty against justice what is going on there, and some months ago I got a chance to speak over the phone to one of the Sierra Club Lawyers desperately fighting a hard battle against this environmental injustice.

Special Speaker for the evening Larry Gibson is visiting NJ from Appalachia where his family has lived since the 1700s:

Try to imagine what hell looks like,

says Larry Gibson in describing the devastation.

MORE INFO BELOW:

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Sierra Club North Jersey Group
General Meeting - Nov 8

A SPECIAL PROGRAM WITH A SPECIAL GUEST!

Mountaintop Removal: The Assault on Appalachia's Land and People? - Presentation with photo exhibit

Larry Gibson, Keeper of the Mountains, West Virginia, and photographer Mark Schmerling will discuss the devastating impacts of blowing up mountains for coal on the environment, communities and culture of Appalachia. They will also address why this has this been allowed to happen and what can be done to stop it.

The coal mining practice of mountaintop removal, which involves clear-cutting native forests and blasting the tops off mountains, has destroyed over 800 square miles of mountains, dumped millions of tons of waste rock and sludge into valleys, and permanently buried 1,200 miles of streams in West Virginia. It has polluted the air and water, caused severe flooding, endangered wildlife, and wiped out entire communities. ?Try to imagine what hell looks like,? says Larry Gibson in describing the devastation. ?Visit me at Kayford and I'll show you hell's gate.?

Larry Gibson is fighting to stop the destruction of Kayford Mountain (where his family has lived since the late 1700s) and the surrounding areas. The nonprofit Keeper of the Mountains was created to fund Larry's efforts to raise the public's awareness of the ongoing devastation and foster an appreciation of mountain values. He was featured in the CNN Heroes report ?Larry Gibson: Defending the Planet? and also in the film ?Kilowatt Ours.? For more information, visit www.mountainkeeper.org/

Mark Schmerling, a professional photographer, has been documenting the effects of mountaintop removal since 2005 through images that capture the true costs to Appalachia's land and culture. His photographs are featured in "Bringing Down the Mountains" by Dr. Shirley Stewart Burns (West Virginia University Press 2007) and have also been displayed by the Sierra Club and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. Mark is working with the Sierra Club Clean Water Campaign that supports legislation to help end mountaintop removal.

Thursday, November 8
7:30 PM
Flat Rock Brook Nature Center
443 Van Nostrand Avenue
Englewood, NJ
Directons: http://www.flatrockbr... and click on "directions"

FREE

Open to the public. Everyone is welcome!

For more information, call the North Jersey Sierra Club at [masked] or e-mail [masked]

Sierra Club North Jersey Group
Mail Address: 2400 Hudson Terrace 5D, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
TEL [masked]
E-MAIL [masked]
Co-Chairs
Mike Herson
Betsy Kohn

DIRECTIONS:

>FROM ROUTE 80 EAST, TOWARD GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE (note: always stay in, or follow signs to, LOCAL LANES on right)

Take EXIT 71 (Broad Avenue Leonia Englewood). Turn RIGHT at the end of the ramp onto Broad Avenue. At the second traffic light, turn RIGHT onto Van Nostrand Avenue and proceed up to the end. In front of you, you'll see the nature center sign and the road leading up into the woods to the center. Parking available at the top or below on Van Nostrand.

[Should you by mistake take an express lane, don?t panic, just follow it to Fort Lee. Take Exit 72 (for Palisades Interstate Parkway, Routes 4, 46) and follow signs for Route 4. See below for directions from George Washington Bridge and Route 4 West.]

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> FROM NJ TURNPIKE (I-95) NORTH:
After the last toll booths (exit 18), stay on 1-95 North. Follow signs for George Washington Bridge and New York. NOTE: Always follow signs to, and stay in, the LOCAL lanes, on right.

Take EXIT 71 (Broad Avenue Leonia Englewood).

At the end of the exit ramp, turn RIGHT onto Broad Avenue. At the second light, turn RIGHT onto Van Nostrand Avenue and proceed straight up to the end (passing through a 4-way stop intersection at Jones Road). You'll see the nature center sign in front of you and the road leading up through the woods to the center and parking.

[Should you by mistake take an express lane, don?t panic, just follow it to Fort Lee. Take Exit 72 (for Palisades Interstate Parkway, Routes 4, 46) follow signs for Route 4. See below for direct