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Awhile back, I wrote a short review on a book called Lost Mountain that followed the environmental destruction of a single mountaintop in the Appalachians due to coal mining. That book had an incredible impact one me. I had no idea how absolutely horrible and destructive mountaintop removal was. It frightened me to think that most of the rest of America had no idea either. In fact, anytime I watched CNN and saw one of those commercials promoting coal for America’s future, it made me wince. It seems Google feels the same way because they’ve recently joined up with a group called Appalachian Voices to add a new ‘environmental layer’ to Google Earth that shows and tells the story of each destroyed region in high resolution satellite imagery.

Below is a post I wrote for the site Green Options. Read thru — and then download or start up the application to have a look yourself. This is a sad demonstration of just how far humanity will go for cheap energy. In the end, these images prove that there’s nothing cheap about destroying the entire planet.

“Quite possibly one of the more innovative (and eye-opening) applications as a result of the Internet is the wonder that is Google Earth. Once relegated to the underground confines of the Defense Department or CIA, now anyone can swoop above the Earth with satellite imagery and zero in on their home or other locations in fine detail.

So, while Google Earth can show you the wonders of our blue planet like you’ve never seen them before, it also reveals mankind’s impact and destruction. Those of you that are familiar with the concept of mountaintop removal (in which entire mountains are leveled for coal) might have viewed before and after pictures of scenes in and around the Appalachin Mountains. Such images are moving, but if you’ve never “flown” above the vast swaths of the actual destruction using Google Earth, you’re missing out the complete, horrible picture.

A group called Appalachian Voices has teamed up with Google to include a new mountaintop removal coal mining layer in Google Earth. This layer includes the National Memorial for the Mountains, a project that shows the locations and tells the stories of mountains in Appalachia impacted by mountaintop removal. It’s a sad fact that over 470 mountaintops have been destroyed for coal. Google Earth will give its audience of nearly 200 million people the opportunity to learn first hand how each removal impacted the families, environment, and species in the area. What’s even more frightening is when you look down from above and see these projects moving ever closer to areas of pristine beauty. The term “raping our planet for resources” has never been transformed into such detail before.

Please download Google Earth, follow these instructions, and take a look for yourself. Show your neighbors, your kids, and anyone else that might care. If we ever needed reasons to consider investments in renewable energy, such imagery is a convincing argument. Go. Look. Educate. Support. Act. Inspire.”