Members of the Appalachia Rising movement convened in the Leavey Center for their first annual “Voices From the Mountains” summit, gathering professors, doctors, environmentalists, NASA climate scientists, students, and miners for the three-day event.

The largest national movement of its kind, Appalachia Rising advocates for an end to Mountaintop Removal (MTR) mining, a method of coal extraction achieved by blasting off the tops of mountain ridges in order to access and harvest the underlying coal seams.

While some praise the extraction technique on the basis of its expediency and fiscal benefits, the Appalachia Rising movement seeks to raise awareness of the environmental devastation it has wreaked on communities from North Carolina to Kentucky to Tennessee.

The three days of summit workshops, lectures, and seminars culminated in a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill and a march 2,000 strong on the National Mall.

Since the 1960s, MTR has offered an alternative to traditional underground `shaft’ mining techniques, which involve tunneling into the side of the mountain to harvest a particular coal seam while leaving the soil, wildlife and plants above it intact.

Conversely, MTR results in deforestation and the dumping of excess debris into surrounding valleys, which in turn pollutes the water supply.

These devastating health and environmental impacts were points of great concern to Georgetown students who attended the summit.

“I had no idea how dangerous MTR really was,” Ursela Groat (SFS ’11) said. ” I didn’t realize that it was literally destroying our water supply.”

Summit participants also learned about the effects of the coal mining industry on Appalachian residents. Attendees were also provided with nonviolent action and lobbying trainings in which participants learned how to best advocate for their cause with Congressional Staff and what to do in the event of their arrest during Monday’s march.

Georgetown Professor and longtime nonviolent activist Barbara Wien participated in the movement’s efforts to lobby Congress and raise public awareness, as well as attending last weekend’s on-campus events. Wien, who teaches a seminar on nonviolence theory and practice here on the Hilltop, emphasized the importance of Georgetown students being exposed to and participating in peaceful action.

“Nonviolence is a proud, formative part of American history from William Penn to the Boston Tea Party” said Wien, who praised events like the Appalachia Rising conference for their ability to help students enhance, improve, and guide peaceful discourse into the future.

any students from Georgetown and other regional universities also took advantage of the opportunity to engage in nonviolence by attending the conference, marches, and lobbying events.

“Voices From the Mountains fits in well with Georgetown’s mission and dedication to social justice work,” Groat said.

Wien echoed her sentiment saying, “It’s critical to ground this nonviolent struggle in fact, scholarship and science and [Georgetown’s] involvement allows higher education to be brought to bear on this issue.”