A Green New Deal for Appalachia: Economic Transition, Coal Reclamation Costs, Bottom-Up Policymaking (Part 2)

This is the second installment of the two-part article series delving into the challenges of a post-coal, post-carbon economic transition. Part 1 analyzed participatory action research on regional economic transition; here, in Part 2, we share perspectives from within the region on the root causes of maldevelopment, including how citizens describe root causes, and how those root causes hinder our progress toward a truly just transition. We specifically outline three major causes of injustice and disempowerment: historical patterns of corporate greed disrupt democratic power structures; the shrinking of democratic public space leaves less room for citizen engagement in areas that suffer steep inequality; and cultural disempowerment creates false dualisms and narrowing points of view. Both installments are, in large part, written through the lens of the work of the Alliance for Appalachia, a regional coalition of grassroots, non-profit organizations working to end mountaintop removal coal mining while supporting a just transition toward a brighter future.