I have been concerned about the devastating practice of mountain top removal coal mining for quite some time. The feeling of wishing I could do something to help stop it gnawed at me. Eric Reece, author of Lost Mountain, wrote a compelling article about MTR for Orion magazine. What was so powerful about the article is that Eric connected the reader to the people of Appalachia, and their stories of floods, poisoned water, personal illness, and death. Then I realized what I needed to do; we need to connect our communities to educate people on this issue, in order to put an end to mountain top removal, and so the healing blankets for the earth project was born. What is a healing blanket? It is created with wool fleece, and gathered organic materials, seeds from flowers, weeds, acorns, grasses, shells,etc. and felted into burlap. The idea is to connect students to their environment, and learn about the Appalachian Mountains and mountain top removal coal mining at the same time. Talking about environmental issues becomes more meaningful to people when they are engaged in a process that brings them into the woods, and fields, or offers them an opportunity to investigate natural materials close up. The fleece comes in many colors and it becomes the pallet for the blanket. The students design the blanket combining their ideas. The blankets are about the size of a twin bed. When they are finished, they are mailed to people whose stories have touched us. It is then installed by the recipient into the landscape to help regenerate and heal the ecosystem that has been damaged by MTR. This eco-art installation acts as a bridge between our communities, and offers support to the people in coal country.

Healing Blanket Gallery

Healing Blanket Article

Environmental activists bring coal fight to Seacoast

Click on the links below to visit sites that provides more information on mountain top removal.

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC): www.ohvec.org