Wednesday 9th November - "The True Cost Of Coal"
On Wednesday 9th November at The Trades Club, Treesponsibility and Hebden Bridge Transition Town will be presenting Sophie Cooke's telling of the story "The True Cost of Coal".
Treesponsibility member Keith Wilson attended this year's Earth First Gathering in Suffolk, and came back singing the praises of Sophie Cooke's passionate presentation of stories from the Beehive Collective. We invited Sophie to come and give the presentation here at the Treesponsibility Gathering at Height Gate Camping Barn on the 5th of November, and also at the Trades Club on the 9th November.
The Beehive Collective, from Machios, Maine, USA, facilitate creative education about issues effecting people and the environment. In this case the issue is the removal of mountain tops in the Americas to extract coal. They have created a giant graphic which depicts this process, its effects, and the struggles for justice against the mighty mining companies.
The show can be interactive with the story telling led by the audience reponse to seeing the images, or it could be a straight forward story telling if the audience prefers to just sit back and listen.
So why is the extraction of coal thousands of miles away relevant to us? Well, Drax power Station in North Yorkshire with its generating capacity of 3,960 megawats burns 36,000 tonnes of coal every day, and is one of several similar power stations in the area. Drax's coal comes from six countries including Australia and Colombia. Most of this coal is extracted by the creation of huge open cast mines. Peolpe all over the world are campaigning to stop open cast mining including some close to home. Only last year local campaigners stopped an open cast mine at the Fairburne Ings nature reserve near Leeds West Yorkshire.
Put the 9th November in your diary for a double treat, as along with the show there will be delicious food provided by Lhamo's Kitchen.