Jacob Dearing
October 11th, 2015
Critical Abstract #10
Article author: Robert Todd Perdue and Gregory Pavela
Article title: Addictive Economies and Coal Dependency
When analyzing environmental issues the topic generally has a connection to our natural resources and how our communities use these resources. Perdue and Pavela instead examine the impacts of resource extraction on communities in West Virginia in an attempt to discredit the belief that extraction equals economic prosperity. In the short term, resource extraction will often benefit a community offering high pay and employment but these “booms” as the article terms are often short lived. The market for coal dropped due to many reasons such as the end of World War 2 and introduction of cleaner burning fuels. In the long term, the true nature of resource extraction came about showing characteristics such as, “poverty, low per capita income, and high unemployment rates”. The article describes different innovations within the industry such as, “the continuous mining machine” which explain data that shows reduced health risks although this came to show an increase in, “eminent health threat to miners”. Ultimately these health risks combined with low employment rates caused mining communities to move from the mountains in search of work. Perdue and Pavela point out the regular cycle of boom and bust displaying the instability of resource extraction in these regions. Finally, deforestation, covering of headwater streams, and the removal of mountaintops severally downgraded the environmental conditions of the area.
The authors arrive at the conclusion that resource extraction directly correlates with poor quality of life and environment. The suggested changes are the negation of coal extraction and the introduction of economies such as ecotourism to provide stability to West Virginia.