The New Face of West Virginia: Sustainability and the Importance of Creative Collaboration
After five long years of hard work, myself and many others have intentionally developed a proactive platform for "community action" and the new face of success for Central Appalachia in the coming years signifying a shift from an issues-based to a solutions-based approach. The hard work that went into making these projects happen is not just limited to the time frame of my short lived residency in West Virginia; these projects were made possible by many initiatives and projects that were present long before my arrival.
After five long years of hard work, myself and many others have intentionally developed a proactive platform for "community action" and the new face of success for Central Appalachia in the coming years signifying a shift from an issues-based to a solutions-based approach. The hard work that went into making these projects happen is not just limited to the time frame of my short lived residency in West Virginia; these projects were made possible by many initiatives and projects that were present long before my arrival. For instance, if it were not for a visionary local doctor's dream of revitalizing the Williamson Redevelopment Authority and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation supplying funds to make Dr. Beckett's dream a reality, Williamson would not be on the cutting edge of developing some of the most innovative approaches to Sustainable Development today. Moreover, before I had the privilege of meeting ex-coalminer Earl Long, Founder and CEO of Angel Winds Renewable Energy LLC, he was already building a new dream for his home state – developing "mom and pop" wind farms across West Virginia. The fact is, the further I tried to trace the cause of my successes the more complex the mosaic becomes.
My message to emerging leaders across the nation today is that among the many struggles that I have had in developing projects during my lifetime the biggest struggle has been to maintain a collaborative/creative atmosphere where:
- Mistakes are viewed as a process of growth;
- Oppositions are viewed as opportunities;
- Assessing overlaps in organizational expertise are far more productive than assessing individual interests;
- Following through with promises holds far more value than building a perceived reputation among experts and established leaders;
- As my mentor Keith Pauley has suggested, building relationships becomes the cause and the projects become the effect;
- The "them" in the all too destructive "us against them" view of the world are typically made up of rational, willing, and often times profoundly ethical human beings.
Although the projects in the video can be seen as a victory for some, more importantly they presently serve as a stepping stone for West Virginia and Central Appalachia as a whole to transcend one of the most destructive mechanism known to them today; A mechanism which is paradoxically maintained by the recent documentary "The Last Mountain" were the only form of local "community action" is a crude example of direct action, a series of symbolic marches/rallies and a misleading wind study which arguably do more harm to West Virginia coal communities than good. These collective (re)actions typically paint a dark and often conspiratorial portrayal of a region marked by corruption, abject poverty, disease, a blatant disregard for the environment and most importantly - conflict. You have to ask yourself, what would happen to Silicon Valley's economic environment if Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition took on the same strategy as other environmental coalitions in our region, that is, attempted to shut down the very industry that maintains a large portion of the state's budget in which they reside? Moreover, how would the employees of the solar industry, Google, Adobe, Facebook, etc. react?
With the above reactive forces at play, it is our hope that through building our projects with a long tradition of creative visionaries such as Kent Spellman and his organization's collaborative projects (e.g., CAP, WVSC and WVFFC), we can begin to build a richer picture of a region that has and still is creating innovative approaches to collaboration – an essential ingredient to sustainability. Just this month, we finalized the installation of a 60-meter meteorological tower to measure the wind for Angel Winds Renewable Energy, the 1st locally-owned community wind farm in Central Appalachia. So in the same tradition of Buckminster Fuller, I along with thousands of West Virginians pronounce through past, present and future successes that "you can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, [one must] build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
The JOBS Project has been featured in: BBC World News, NPR's State of the Reunion, Appalshop, Bloomberg Businessweek, and most recently in the June issue of Photon International: PV in Coal Country and Career Change.
ERIC MATHIS - Williamson, WV
Eric is a committed entrepreneur who has dedicated the past 10 years of his life to new market-based approaches to sustainable development. Throughout the various projects that he has participated in and/or spearheaded, he has remained true to his commitment of promoting diversity by way of sustainable development through various means which include organic farming, institutional development, education, economics, and more. Read more »
Shame on Eric Mathis, and shame on Green for All
Judy died of cancer in early 2011, after years of dedicating her life to ending mountaintop removal coal mining in Central Appalachia. In her later years, she worked hard toward supporting the Coal River Wind project, which Mr. Mathis seems to criticize in this post, by criticizing the study that proved that wind power served as a viable option to a 10 square mile mountaintop removal site--operated by Massey Energy. Mr. Mathis offers no specific criticism of the study other than a general one. By doing so, and by criticizing the organizations that work hard toward bringing environmental justice to the coalfields, he does the exact thing that he purports not to do, namely, further polarize opposing sides together rather than bringing them together, in stating that "the "them" in the all too destructive "us against them" view of the world are typically made up of rational, willing, and often times profoundly ethical human beings."
Does Eric not believe that Judy Bonds, or Maria Gunnoe, or Mother Jones were "ethical"?? Is Eric's philosophy consistent with that of Van Jones, who states that "is the movement to ensure that no community suffers disproportionate environmental burdens or goes without enjoying fair environmental benefits."
Does Eric not recognize the dedication and life-long passion of coalfield community organizations toward the very same goal of ensuring "that no community suffers disproportionate environmental burdens"?? He appears to ignore the contributions of the true heroes of the coalfields altogether.
Furthermore, aside from being offensive to many who have dedicated their lives toward bringing environmental justice to communities who have long suffered poverty, cancer, and oppression, Eric's post here is more arrogant than statements made by the coal industry itself.
Shame on Eric Mathis for believing he is the equivalent of Buckminster Fuller, and SHAME on Green for All for supporting such a polarizing, misleading, and arrogant piece of writing. Eric is no Fuller, and he's no Van Jones. He is the symbol of superiority, and until he can show that he has created even ten full time jobs in Central Appalachia--other than the out-of-towners who come to work for him on a part-time basis--then he has no right to claim that his vision for "success in Central Appalachia."
Just ask groups who are doing real economic development work in the region such as the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, or who are working toward real environmental justice--such as Green for All purports to do--such as the late Judy Bonds, who would have turned 59 tomorrow had she not been stricken down by cancer, in the coalfields. Who would have guessed.