EVENT UPDATE: EARTH DAY GATHERING SCHEDULED FOR HILLSBORO, WEST VIRGINIA

We have an event scheduled for Earth Day – April 22 – in Hillsboro, West Virginia based upon this book. A community gathering to discuss community preparedness and disaster management in the context of grassroots organizing will be held at the Hillsboro Public Library at 6 p.m. on April 22 with a reception preceding at 5. Check back here regularly for additional information about this event and others in the near future. The Hillsboro Public Library was the 2003 Rural Library of the Year in the United States and is situated in the same community that is the birthplace of Pearl S. Buck, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “The Good Earth.”

GAP MILLS, W.Va. – My new book, “Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia,”is now available.

This is an account of reluctant activists. Some of the people and nonprofits you will read about are or were employed by environmental nonprofits and similar organizations. Most, however, became citizen activists not by choice, but by the most basic of human instincts – survival. These heroic folks – and thousands of others – were forced to abandon their peaceful lives by the aggressive and harmful tactics of the natural gas industry.

These reports capture an accurate account of the shenanigans the natural gas industry has used to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline and numerous other larger and smaller projects across the nation. This is simply another snapshot in the scrapbook of the exploitation by energy companies of the people and land of Appalachia.

I was fortunate to have good sources while reporting from the fracking fields and pipeline routes. I learned that the fundamental rights of property owners were being violated by misuse of eminent domain; that the health of human beings was being knowingly compromised; the natural gas industry was, indeed, abusing and harming the region’s water supplies; there was no forethought by the companies as to the terrain they sought to transverse; and, perhaps most disturbingly, those authorities in the government with oversight of pipeline construction often and openly disregarded the very regulations they are charged with enforcing.

So, reluctant citizen activists rose up organically in grassroots resistance to the natural gas industry. The fight won’t end anytime soon. The fossil fuel industry has exploited the Appalachian region for roughly 150 years. With dollar signs dancing in their eyes, they are not inclined to quit. Neither are the grassroots activists, especially in the midst of Appalachia’s Climate Emergency.

The accounts in the book reveal the stark contrast between those opposing values. The question is: Where do you stand? Reading the accounts and reports found in the 37 chapters of the book may compel you to consider – in ways you have not yet – the public health risks, ecological devastation, destruction of family homesteads generations old, and the very real and rough toll this battle has taken upon families along the pipeline routes.

Grassroots movements are exerting greater and greater influence on their own communities and public policy. In addition to informing the public about fracking and its impacts in Appalachia, this chronicle is also an opportunity to learn from one another about such effective grassroots efforts.

Join the Conversation

We are presently scheduling signings, talking circles and perhaps even a concert or two so that we can gather to discuss our thoughts and experiences about the earth that sustains us, and if you wish, purchase the book. To learn more about scheduling an event as well as additional information about the book and purchasing options, please visit our Fractured Sanctuary page.

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© Michael M. Barrick, 2023