"he is the bald eagle in the coal mine"

"We came because the land, its forests and its streams are being destroyed by the surface mining of coal; because the people are suffering intolerable harm to their homes, their health and their communities; and because all the people downstream are threatened by the degradation and contamination of the rivers."

Wendell Berry (writer, farmer - all over this blog, you might have noticed) just got out of four days of a sit-in in his Kentucky governor's office, protesting the destructive practices of the coal industry in his state. After an initial meeting where the gov. professed love for coal and all it brings to the state, the group just stayed around all weekend, for 3 nights.They emerged on Monday this week, with the governor agreeing to visit sites of concern to them, in eastern Kentucky.

Writer Rick Bass:
"A country in which a patriot like Wendell Berry must step outside the law is a nation in uprising indeed. He is not the canary in the coal mine, the canaries have all died. He is the bald eagle in the coal mine. Our country is burning and his love for it--and for us--has no bounds. What an amazing American he is, to believe that words and actions still matter, and that we might yet all escape our corporate and political captors, and cool the inferno of our hastening destruction. It is a hastening destruction—a delamination—that we can all sense and can see the tips of, now, but which—unless we heed the leadership of men and women like Berry—our children will have to inhabit fully."