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Other things changed

- added last sentence of intro so it was a better summary

-added Appalachia picture

-some little consistency edits

-condensing the events section and making sure the formatting was consistent

-citations look better in the actual page i changed some things

Deforestation (added section)
Significant deforestation occurred in Appalachia around the turn of the twentieth century, with land use rapidly shifting from majority old growth forest to up to over 70% agricultural land by 1910. This resulted in significant damage to forest ecosystems in the region, soil damage and water pollution from erosion, and increased forest fires. Timber harvesting decreased in the mid twentieth century resulting in significant regrowth of forest, steadily increasing in density and maturity until today.

Deforestation re-emerged as an issue in the late twentieth century. Some resurgence of the timber industry began in the 1980s because of maturing forests, including the use of clearcutting. As of 2007 over 300 square miles of forest had been removed because of Mountaintop mining alone.

History
Environmentalism in Appalachia is generally characterized by opposition to fossil fuel extraction in the area. Much of the environmental movement in Appalachia is rooted in the legacy of resistance to the coal industry by labor unions in the late 1800s and early 1900s. From the 1960s onward environmental groups in the region focused on surface mining as one of the most significant environmental threats in the region. The 1960s and 70s marked a particularly significant resistance, including political organizing, nonviolent direct action, and litigation against fossil fuel companies. This lead up to to the passing of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977, which was initially seen as a success by many activists but was poorly enforced.

After the passage of the SMCRA many environmental organizations previously focusing on surface mining broadened their focus to more social issues. Increased deforestation in the 1980s led to organizing against clearcutting. Public attention was brought back to surface mining after the popularization of Mountaintop Removal mining in the 1990s began facing resistance. The origins of an environmental justice movement in Appalachia began with primarily women resisting the practice because of health risks in their communities. Direct action techniques saw a resurgence beginning in what was labeled "Mountain Justice Summer" in 2005 and succeeded in bringing the issue to international attention.

Opposition
Despite the presence of environmental activism, there is also significant resistance to environmentalism in the region that is linked to political conservatism. Research has show that resistance is rooted in a strong connection between coal mining and perceptions of the identity and importance of the region and the fear of the government regulations encroaching on personal freedoms. Additionally, many in the region are financially dependent on coal mining and speaking out against the industry could mean losing their livelihood.

Environmental Justice in Appalachia (editing section)
Main article: Environmental justice and coal mining in Appalachia

Environmental justice has been identified by scholars as a movement that acknowledged the disproportionate effects of environmental damage and toxic contamination on the poor and people of color. Though much of the focus on environmental justice has been placed in urban areas this lens has also been applied to the Appalachian region, which has long been associated with poverty in the general American public. This perception was further solidified when region was targeted by Nixon's"War on Poverty" campaign.

Because of the environmental and health effects of fossil fuel extraction in the area, Appalachia has been identified by some as an "energy sacrifice zone." Kentucky activist Joe Begley characterized the injustice in the region in a 1999 interview saying, "People here live on top of a gold mine, and they’re starving to death. They live on top of a coal mine, and they’re freezing to death.”  Environmental justice groups are often community grassroots organizations that combined environmentalism with issues of social equality. Many contemporary environmental organizations in the area fit this description, such as the Mountain Justice group, formed in opposition to Mountain Top Removal mining. MTR has been used as an example of environmental injustice in the region. This relates both to the disproportionate level of chronic health issues in regions where it is present and thousands of lost jobs resulting from the less labor intensive nature of the practice.