Author to talk about coal strip mining

Adapted from a news release, this looks like an interesting event.

UPDATE 2/16/10:  Here's an article by Biggers on the implications of last week's Illinois earthquake on coal-fired power plants.  Scary. 

PEORIA -- Award winning author Jeff Biggers will perform a reading and talk about his new book, Reckoning at Eagle Creek: the Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland,  at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 21, at the Forest Park Nature Center, 5809 Forest Park Drive, Peoria.

Jeff Biggers tells a riveting and true story of how his family's southern Illinois farm, part of their heritage,  was obliterated by coal strip mining.

With keen insight, Jeff looks at the history of coal mining in Illinois and relates earlier events to current challenges our society must face. This is a thought provoking, yet entertaining look into the past and reflection on the present. Biggers challenges the wording 'clean coal' as a complete falsehood, stating mining impacts must be taken into consideration.

Publishers Weekly has written: “Part historical narrative, part family memoir, part pastoral paean, and part jeremiad against the abuse of the land and of the men who gave and continue to give their lives to (and often for) the mines, Reckoning at Eagle Creek puts a human face on the industry that supplies nearly half of America’s energy…it offers a rare historical perspective on the vital yet little considered industry, along with a devastating critique of the myth of ‘clean coal.’ ”

Noted environmental author and activist Bill McKibben stated: “As this fine book makes clear, coal has always and ever been a curse, poisoning everything and everyone it touches—right up to the climate on which we depend for our daily bread. What a story!”

Jeff Biggers, who now lives in Macomb, has published in The Nation, Washington Post, and many other print and online sources, and has authored several other books. He travels extensively for his research and writing.

He is a leading reporter on mountaintop destruction mining in Appalachia, and has done extensive research on the family and social impacts of coal mining, as well as the true environmental costs, showing that there is no such thing as 'clean coal.'

This free program is sponsored by Heart of Illinois Group Sierra Club and the public is invited to attend. For more information phone 688-0950.