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tion of electricity. Appalachian Voices andincreasing numbers of collaborating groupsand individuals have banded together to findsolace and strength in their common causefor sanity while working to define a sustainablepath for the future.Environmental justice and a host ofsocial-economic-environmental issues areintertwined with the Mountain-Top Removal(MTR) saga. When we turn on the lightsin McLean, Virginia, we are supporting thecoal industry pipeline and providing thefinances for MTR. “We show people howthey are connected to MTR,” explains MaryAnne Hitt. “Using the virtual globe technologies,we can show the connection of miningoperations to the delivery of electricity intopeople’s homes.” And assessing the linksto social-economics for these areas beingbulldozed over is another requirement toensure environmental justice to the poorestof our citizens .The energy deciders held secret meetingsin the White House from 2001 and launcheda new set of liberal policies for MTR. Whetherthey will ever have to explain their actionsto the citizens of ravaged landscapes is apolitical question (Union of Concerned Scientists,2008). But it is increasingly importantthat all citizens become educated as to thedirect and indirect impacts that MTR is havingthroughout the Appalachians. It is everyone’sbusiness to become concerned with theconnections we all have to the policies andlifestyles that result in the horrific desecrationof our precious natural resources.Appalachian Voices does not have astaff of scientists with expertise in remotesensing, landscape ecology, or other criticaldisciplines that are needed in the MTRdrama. What better class project or Master’sthesis could there be than to focus on oneof the many areas that have been destroyed,or better yet, to pre-position the imagery andenvironmental analysis to head off furtherlosses? Hitt points out, “We are going to bedoing a lot of looking at mountains that arestanding but threatened. We need modelersto help us look at the spread of MTR andmodelers to study the extent of pollution alongrivers and communities. We are working withSky Truth and would certainly welcome helpfrom the remote sensing community.”John Amos’ team at Sky Truth (www.skytruth.org), led by Dr. David J. Campagna(Adjunct Professor in West VirginiaUniversity’s Remote Sensing Lab in theDepartment of Geology and Geography), hasbeen a pioneering partner in helping Hitt andher colleagues assess and communicate thedisturbing images of mountain destruction.“We are working to determine and map theareas most likely to be mined in the nearfuture,” explains Amos. “We are launching theWeb-based Adopt-A-Mountain tool to enableaverage citizens to help us with ground-truthand field verification prior to the destruction,”he adds, “and are looking for talented GISand remote sensing professionals.”It would appear that these true heroes ofAmerica’s landscape could use a lot of help. Itseems patently unfair to place the continuedbattle against MTR on their shoulders alone.I wonder what our talented and capableremote sensing community can do to helpthis chorus of Appalachian Voices.FIGURE 1FIGURE 2FIGURE 3REFERENCES_IMAGING NOTES // S UMMER 2008 // WWW.IMAGINGNOTES.COM15