Monday, February 6, 2012

We're Moving to Wordpress!

Hey everyone! We're moving over to coalfreemizzou.wordpress.com! Come check us out there! We'll be blogging more regularly there, and this site will eventually go down. In the coming days, coalfreemizzou.com should be up and running, and directing to the Wordpress website instead of this one!

Thanks and please join us over on Wordpress!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Photos and Video Up!

We have both photos and video up from our Flash Mob and Asthma Awareness event!

Check out the photos from the Asthma Awareness event

Check out the photos from our Flash Mob!

And here is our video from the Flash Mob! Shot and produced by Harry Katz:

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Homecoming Week Events!

Thursday, October 13, at Lowry Mall, at 12:21 PM, there will be a Flash Mob! It will last just two minutes, so make sure you get in on the action! If you'd like to participate, make sure you check out the facebook page for the event.


We'll also be participating in the Homecoming Parade on Saturday morning! This should be a fun event, walking through the parade and handing out stuff to the audience! If you're interested in walking with us in the parade, contact us at coalfreemu [at] gmail.com!


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Some Documentaries You Might Wanna Watch!

Below are some online documentaries and hard copy documentaries that you should definitely try to watch/get your hands on!

Online features: 

Sierra Club Beyond Coal playlist: These 10 videos add up to about 12 min on one DVD. This is the best of Sierra Club's online coal videos from break-dancers for Beyond Coal to Ashley Judd speaking out against mountaintop removing mining to the Coal is Too Dirty for College video series.

Deep Down impact video: (6 min) shows how film is being used to connect communities and build solidarity.  

Dirty Business: (15 min) excerpt online.

I Live Near Coal: (6 min) short on health effects of coal.

Low Coal: (85 min) The story of the mountaintop removal activists featured in Coal Country, the year after.

Feature Documentaries: 
Coal Country: Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller's documentary reveals how Americans' hunger for cheap energy has fueled the destruction of the oldest mountains on the continent, and of a culture deeply rooted in the American soul.

Dirty Business:"Clean Coal" and the Battle for Our Energy Future: Produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting, the film investigates the true cost of our dependence on coal for electricity in the age of climate change.

Journey to Planet Earth: Plan B: Hosted by Matt Damon featuring Lester Brown, environmental visionary and author of Plan B, this documentary delivers a clear and unflinching message -- either confront the realities of climate change or suffer the consequences of lost civilizations and failed political states.

Carbon Nation: This film is a feature length documentary about climate change solutions. Carbon Nation is an optimistic discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing and what the world needs to do to prevent (or slow down) the impending climate crisis.

The Dirty Truth About Coal: This is a half-hour documentary film about the effects of emissions from coal-fired power plants on public health. Please note it will not be available until Oct. 1st.

On Coal River: This film takes viewers on a gripping emotional journey into the Coal River Valley of West Virginia -- a community surrounded by lush mountains and a looming toxic threat. The film follows a former coal miner and his neighbors in a David-and-Goliath struggle for the future of their valley, their children, and life as they know it. Click here for the screening guide.

Kilowatt Ours: Kilowatt Ours is a timely, solutions-oriented look at one of America's most pressing environmental challenges: energy. This often amusing and always inspiring story shows, "You can easily make a difference and here’s how!"

Energy Film Trailers: 

Sun Come Up Trailer: (2 min) Sun Come Up is an ACADEMY AWARD® nominated film that shows the human face of climate change. The film follows the relocation of the Carteret Islanders, a community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean, and now, some of the world’s first environmental refugees.

Cape Spin Trailer: (4 min) Cape Spin is a feature documentary about the epic battle over the Cape Wind project, America's first offshore wind farm proposed for the storied waters of Nantucket Sound.

The Battle for Blair Mountain: (11 min) Blair Mountain is under threat of Mountaintop Removal mining. The focal point of the 1921 mine wars, this historic center of labor rights has not gotten the protection it deserves.


Monday, September 26, 2011

Review of Speaking Event Last Week

The Maneater did a write up on the Speaking event we had! 

Here's Part 1 of the presentation/speaker:


Patricia Schuba of LEO Speaking at Coal Free Mizzou About Detriments of Coal(Part 1/2) from Taylor Dankmyer on Vimeo.
And Part 2:

Coal to Clean Energy Tour Next Weekend!

See firsthand how Illinoisans (and Missourians) are having their air and water polluted by coal, and what you can do to help stop it! And see how renewable alternatives to coal are taking shape. Join us in visiting power plants, mines, coal ash dumps, and a wind turbine, and biofuel farm!
 

Saturday, Oct 1st: 9AM-9PM. Estimated cost: $15. We would leave Friday!


1st stop: Agricultural Watershed Institute, Decatur, IL: AWI is in the first season of a pilot project to produce biofuels from native prairie plants. 

2nd stop: City Water Light and Power Plant, Springfield, IL: Students will see an expansion to the plant, and learn about the plant’s water usage, and groundwater impacts from coal ash.

3rd stop: Crown I Mine, Famersville, IL: A shuttered underground mine with visibly leaking coal refuse and no pollution controls to prevent groundwater contamination. 

4th stop: Crown III Mine: Farmersville, IL: Underground, room and pillar, with coal slurry and ash disposal. Residents complain of dust problems, no pollution controls to prevent groundwater contamination.

5th stop: Shay 1 Mine, Carlinville, IL: Existing underground mine with longwall and room and pillar. Can see subsided ground, along with massive refuse disposal areas leaking into stream & groundwater
 
6th stop: Deer Run Mine, Hillsboro, IL: New longwall mine --longwall mining is a particularly invasive mining technique that is becoming more common in the midwest.

Midwest Powershift!


Last spring, we brought together 10,000 young people in Washington DC to stand up for clean energy, stop dirty energy projects, and get corporate money out of our democracy. Powershift 2011 was pretty awesome, but this fall we're going deeper, and focusing on the issues that we're facing locally and regionally in order to really build our movement and launch the campaigns that our generation has the power to win. I'm hoping you'll join me October 21st- 23rd in Cleveland, Ohio for Midwest Powershift: the epic and unprecedented youth climate movement convergence that is bringing together over ten states, and promises to be an epic turning point in the fight for climate justice where it matters most- in a region that has been overshadowed by dirty energy projects, corporate politics, and 'dying' cities for too long. At Midwest Powershift, we'll be focusing on four critical issues: coal, fracking, political engagement and building the green economy, as well as offering tons of awesome trainings and sessions to empower the next generation (us!) of community organizers.

That being said, registration is now open! Go to http://midwest.wearepowershift.org and register for only $20 before October 2nd! If you're as excited as I am and seriously can't wait to bring all of your friends to Midwest Powershift, you should totally sign up to be a campus coordinator at http://midwest.wearepowershift.org/organize too!. And if you need a good, convincing, reason to come to Cleveland, check out this funny little video, and stay tuned for lots of blogs covering updates and all the coolest action here.

Midwest Power Shift is going to be awesome, can't wait to see ya there!

Coal Free Mizzou