The True Cost of Coal: a Visual Exploration of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining October 5, 2012

Over three years in the making, the True Cost of Coal is a collaboratively-made, highly-detailed, allegorical illustration brought to life by the Bees themselves: volunteer activists, artists, storytellers, and educators who use hand-drawn cartoons and stories from grassroots communities to explore the connections between local, everyday stories and the bigger picture of our historical moment.

The True Cost of Coal depicts the complex history of Mountaintop Removal coal mining, the most extreme form of surface mining for coal. To create their elaborate illustration, Beehive volunteers first interviewed hundreds of folks throughout the Appalachian region whose lives and livelihoods are affect by the coal industry. “People are experts in their own lives and experiences,” explains one Worker Bee. “No one understands the story of coal better than folks who are living it every day. Our goal with this poster has been to amplify these stories- to create a visual megaphone for the folks most affected by resource extraction.”