Why any mountain?

Appalachian mountains, destroyed

by mountaintop removal

streams buried under rubble

of valley fills…

… who are we, humankind

to remodel the flesh of this earth –

– cutthroat surgeons

sinfully rich reshaping

mounds and curves…

Tainting soil and groundwater

toxic metals

selenium sulphate magnesium

degrading water quality of

streams and rivers

left over pollutants

disposed of

‘slurry injections’ into the earth

poisoning groundwater

animals plants people…

Coal mining on Walden’s ridge

mercury spewing

into the atmosphere

smell the coal burning

concentrating, millions of times higher

than in untainted water

once released, irretrievable

mercury compounds never disappear….

.. not so our mountains;

Ancient mountain forests

home to hundreds… thousands

birds and animals, insects and plants

threatened to extinction

ancient guardians

ripped and torn

open-cut-mining stripping the land

every plant and tree decimated

all creatures driven out

or worse

driven to extinction…

who are they, we….

to tamper with the integrity

of ecosystems

unleashing, instead

volumes of contaminants and toxic particles…

I weep at humankind’s audacity

its psychotic need to claim control recreate

and reshape the flesh of this earth;

The Alps

from Nice to Vienna

struggling in the face of major threats

–pollution and habitat loss

in the name of tourism and mankind’s intrusion

such exploitation of age-old mountain

is criminal…

I might never visit the lush beauty

of Hawai’i nor breath in the spiritual vibrations

of Mauna Kea Mountain…

I might never feel the potent sacredness

of those ancient lands

but I weep to think of future times

when my children’s children should do so

and are confronted with

such a phallic symbol

as a thirty meter telescope atop Mauna Kea…

I ask… why the mountain-

why any mountain?

please… protect them

raise your voices

defend Mauna Kea

of humankind’s psychotic need

to claim control recreate

and reshape the flesh of earth;

by Sharon Lee Goodhand, © July 22 2015

supporter of Deep Green Resistance