Appalachia: Atlas of Three Extractions

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Appalachia: Atlas of Three Extractions

Appalachia is a Place of Many Dreams...

To dispute the single narrative of Appalachia is to refuse to accept the monocultures that brand the region. Reliance on single economies (the fossil fuel industry) and cultural identities (rural, white, Christian conservatism) are not the only stories Appalachia has to tell. Likewise, the future visions for Appalachia will not grow out of one strategy from one perspective. We, therefore, want to inform the viewer that this atlas is in no way intended to function as the single narrative of Appalachia. Instead, we propose it be viewed as a framework through which the forces of isolation, colonization, and exploitation may be overcome with solidarity, resistance, and self-determination.

Where is Appalachia?

For the purposes of this project, the borders of the region were borrowed from the Appalachian Regional Commission. In reality, this border is fluid and unique to the experience of every Appalachian.

Cycles of Extraction

Appalachia has long been treated as a sacrifice zone for the rest of the country––a place where powerful corporations with leadership from outside the region exploit its labor and resources. This continual, evolving process has resulted in significant damage to the land and has caused generations of dispossession for the people who live there.

Stolen Lands

These cycles of industrial extraction began and were facilitated by the displacement of indigenous peoples, most severely during the Trail of Tears in the mid 19th century, but also through a series of treaties which predated their forcible removal calculated to enable westward expansion as well as the creation of an industrial stronghold in Appalachia.

Legacy of Resistance

Despite these cycles, Appalachia has a very rich history of resistance and anti-capitalism. Acts of solidarity around the issues of labor, health, indigenous rights, the environment and more are baked into the region’s story, past and present. It is the goal of this studio to build on that work.

Timber, the First Extraction

The Timber Footprint

The accumulation and agglomeration of extremely large tracts of land by outside landowners was the first step taken to enable the mass-extraction of timber from Appalachia. Not only did this pattern of land ownership force local residents off of their land and lead to mass deforestation, it also laid the foundation for future extractive cycles once timber production slowed down.

Fossil Fuels, the Long Extraction

Fossil Fuel Extraction

In popular imaginary outside the region, Appalachia may be most recognizable as the heart of "coal country," a place where local economies are fundamentally dependent on fossil fuel resource extraction. While this narrative fails to adequately represent the presence of the region's alternative economies or account for the fossil fuel industry's long decline, it is still important to recognize the critical role that fossil fuel resource extraction has played in shaping the physical and social landscape. Thousands of oil and gas wells have been constructed in the region and while many are still actively taking carbon out the ground, a great many now lie defunct and abandoned on toxic, undevelopable sites.

Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

Thousands of miles of pipelines and rail have too redefined the region's physical landscape.

Power Generation

These resources are, of course, burned to generate energy predominantly used to bring power outside the region.

Carceral State, the False Extraction

The Carceral Footprint

Today, a new extractive cycle is well underway, this time defined by the ruralization of mass incarceration. Environmental regulations are lax where the treatment of incarcerated people is concerned; many former mine sites, which once served as town's central employer, have begun to be converted into prisons sold to communities with the promise to bring new jobs and new life to the region.

But the carceral state is a false promise. Jobs ask for four-year degrees in counties where only 25 percent of residents have bachelor's degrees. Jobs ask for no drug charges and no history of incarceration, further diminishing the local applicant pool. With all of these restrictions in place, 80 percent of corrections jobs go to out-of-county candidates. Political promises of hundreds of jobs dwindle to dozens. All of this leads to a non-quantifiable difference in the economies of counties with prisons versus those without.

Industrial Footprint

The confluence of extractive industries (shown in red) represent a mark on the land where generations of exploitation and expropriation have defined the landscape. Shown in green are some of the region's most precious, well-preserved ecosystems. Together, these sites represent areas ripe to implement local visions for Green New Deal interventions.

Appalachian Dreams to Appalachian Futures

Most critical to the success of this project, however, will be the commitment to the many people and communities of the region who alone have the relationships, knowledge and skills required to transform Appalachia into a place truly abundant, sustainable, and hospitable for all.