SOUTHERN OHIO: Pilgrims study pollution, solutions in Athens

Thirteen city dwellers huddled on the banks of a neon orange stream, which was full of toxins seeping out of the mouth of the Majestic Coal Mine a few yards away. Standing at their side, Geoff Buckley explained the challenge of buffering the sulfuric acid from a maze of coal mines from polluting Ohio waterways.

The visiting Episcopalians were taking part in the first Creation Justice retreat hosted by Church of the Good Shepherd, in Athens, Ohio. In addition to uncovering the impact of coal on Ohio's land and people, the retreat demonstrated changes that people can take right now to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.

Together with fellow Good Shepherd parishioners, the Rev. Bill Carroll and conservationists Dana and Richard Carlson, Buckley showed Cincinnati Episcopalians from Church of Our Saviour and Ascension and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church what it costs Appalachian Ohio to keep computers glowing in New York City.

Buckley, a geography professor at Ohio University, gave the Cincinnati pilgrims a visual history of the increasingly violent methods of coal mining, culminating in mountaintop removal that is flattening mountains south of Ohio and burying ancient valleys in rubble.

"A lot of us don't see the costs of cheap energy," said Buckley.

Another speaker, Larry Fisher from the Athens non-profit ACEnet, told the delegation that most of the electricity generated on the eastern Ohio River goes to New York.

During the June 29 to July 2 retreat the pilgrims learned about what people in rural Ohio are doing to slash their consumption of fossil fuel. The Carlson family escorted the group through Ohio University's ECO House, an ordinary bungalow with retrofits any homeowner can consider, ranging from a clothesline to solar thermal cells that warm water to nearly shower temperature. Michelle Greenberg, board president of Green Energy Ohio, briefed the group on progress in solar and wind energy in Ohio and ways that churches and individuals can begin to use it.

They received a primer on how to conduct an energy audit and simple steps to stop the waste of electricity and heat.

"There are a lot of people who know exactly how many miles per gallon our cars get, but no idea how energy efficient our houses are," said Huxley Miller, senior warden of Ascension & Holy Trinity.

"I am trying to think what I do with my five televisions," said the Rev Top Borden, a deacon at Ascension & Holy Trinity. "If there are five people in the house, they're watching five different things. When we had one, we watched all together."

Weaning this state from coal-fired power will require creativity and sacrifice, and it won't happen over night.

"I'm at war within myself," ACEnet's Fisher told the Cincinnati group. "As a farm kid and a Christian, I want stewardship of the land. As a businessman who has always lived here, I want my neighbors to have quality jobs and health care.

"Energy is an economic driver. If you want electricity, you have to get it from somewhere. Solar and wind power are a long way from being affordable for low-income people. Ohio's economy can't stop coal mining and coal plants overnight, but we can take steps right now toward a more sustainable position."