Tyler Rygg

On March 29, 25 coal miners were killed in an explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. Four miners are still missing. Since 1900, 100,000 Americans have died in coal mine accidents.

Iowa State is currently a coal-burning campus, but it is time that we, as a student body, make it clear to the administration that we are fed up with coal. Members of the student organization ActivUs met with administration officials recently to discuss the implementation of more clean, renewable energy on campus. The response was that there needs to be greater student support for the issue.

Coal is deadly for the workers who mine it and unhealthy for the families who live in coal-mining regions where heavy metals contaminate the water supply. It destroys the physical landscape through mountain-top removal wherein entire mountains are leveled and eventually resemble the surface of the moon. It pollutes the air where it is burned and, finally, the resulting toxic fly ash is dumped into an unlined quarry in Waterloo. Iowa is second in terms of wind energy production. Let’s bring more of this clean, renewable energy source to our campus and move away from dirty coal. It will create local jobs and boost Iowa’s economy. Maybe some of that will be paid back to our university.

The administration has made it clear: It wants to hear your voices. This is one of the defining issues of our generation. Take it from a student activist; it has been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done.

I ask you to keep the missing coal miners and the families of those affected by the tragedy in your thoughts and prayers.

In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Tyler Rygg is a junior in philosophy.