I'm excited to announce the A Thousand Little Cuts Online Print Auction fundraiser!

The print auction features signed prints from six Pulitzer Prize winners, five National Geographic photographers, six Photographers of the Year (POYi and NPPA), two Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award winners, one Guggenheim Fellow, and many legends of contemporary documentary photography. A few of the photographers you'll find include: Ed Kashi, David LaBelle, Carolyn Cole, Stephanie Sinclair, Liz O. Baylen, Bob Sacha, Matt Eich, Scott Strazzante, and many more.

Proceeds will be used to complete the film A Thousand Little Cuts, a six-year documentary project exploring the grassroots movement to stop the highly-destructive mining process, mountaintop removal. Our main character, Lorelei Scarbro, a tenacious grandmother of two, fights for green jobs and renewable energy projects in her community; but with a brother working on a mountaintop removal mine and a son-in-law working for Massey Energy, the risks are grave. In a place where blood and coal tie families together, Lorelei’s campaign to save a mountain could destroy the very thing she’s fighting for: her family.

We need $30,000 to complete post-production on the film, and this print auction is our light at the end of the tunnel. Please help complete the film and become a part of our team by buying a print, blogging about the auction and sharing the auction through your social media networks.

Thank you for the support.

Chad A. Stevens
Director, A Thousand Little Cuts

Photography by Chad A. Stevens

An excerpt from Jeff Biggers' article, She Has Been to the Mountaintop--and We Must Fight Harder to Save It:

She was a tireless, funny, and inspiring orator, and a savvy and brilliant community organizer. She was fearless in the face of threats. As the godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement, she gave birth to a new generation of clean energy and human rights activists across the nation. In a year of mining disasters and climate change set backs, she challenged activists to redouble their efforts.

As one of the great visionaries to emerge out of the coalfields, Julia "Judy" Bonds reminded the nation that her beloved Appalachians had been to the mountaintop--and in her passing last night, thousands of anti-mountaintop removal mining and New Power activists from around the country are reminding the Obama administration and the country's environmental justice movement of Bonds' powerful legacy and parting words to "don't let up, fight harder and finish off" the outlaw ranks of Big Coal and end the egregious crime of mountaintop removal.

Photography by Shaena Mallett.

They say the only thing that's permanent is change. And that's what we've been living through with the film project over the last six months. And change is good.

We're starting 2011 with a focused direction, a keener sense of the story and a plan of action for completing a rough cut of the film this summer. Other exciting changes are in the works too. More on that soon.

But wanted to leave everyone with some holiday warmth. On Dec. 18, Lorelei and other members of the Raleigh-Boone County Community Center served up a free holiday dinner for everyone. It was the holiday spirit at its best, and we left inspired, full-bellied and excited about the future of the film.

Thank you all for your support. You'll be hearing more soon.

Chad
Director, A Thousand Little Cuts

A Battle in West Virginia Mining Country Pits Coal Against Wind published on August 15, 2010.

An excerpt from Tom Zeller Jr.'s article, A Battle in West Virginia Mining Country Pits Coal Against Wind:

Their goal is to save the mountain, and they intend to do so with a wind farm. At least one study has shown that a wind project could be a feasible alternative to coal mining here, although the coal industry’s control over the land and the uncertain and often tenuous financial prospects of wind generation appear to make it unlikely to be pursued. That, residents say, would be a mistake.

“If we don’t stop this,” Ms. Scarbro says, adjusting the flowers on her husband’s grave, “one day we’ll be standing on a big pile of rock and debris, and we’ll be asking, ‘What do we do now?’ ”

For many renewable-energy advocates outside the region, the struggle at Coal River Mountain has become emblematic of an effort across the country to find alternatives to fossil fuels.

The Discovery Network's 24-hour eco-lifestyle television show Planet Green is asking its website readers to support the The Coal War.

Planet Green's Rachel Cernansky writes:

'The Coal War' Shows Alternatives to Mountaintop Removal - But Needs Help on Kickstarter

We've already seen some great projects started with the help of Kickstarter, and we are already aware of some of the tremendous impact that coal has on the environment—at every stage of production from mining to the coal ash waste produced when coal is burned for energy.

Well, there's a team raising funds on Kickstarter to complete its documentary, The Coal War, that will illustrate the devastation that mountaintop removal coal mining has brought to Appalachia and what woman is doing to fight it.

It's an important film on an important topic, and the country will be better off if it gets made.

Read the full story on Planet Green.

The Daily Yonder -- a daily source of news, commentary, research, and features about issues facing rural communities -- is currently leading their site with a story by A Thousand Little Cuts team members.

Written by Lead Writer Robert Browman and including images by Director Chad A. Stevens, the story is about the sense of betrayal felt by activists after the EPA seemingly ignored their own guidance and recommended approval of a new mountaintop removal mine permit in West Virginia.

Read the full story by clicking the headline below:

Mountaineers Say EPA Has Backtracked

In April, a turn in the Environmental Protection Agency bouyed Lorelei Scarbro with hope. After many trips to the nation's capitol to oppose mountaintop removal mining, the 54 year old grandmother and coal miner's widow thought the EPA was taking its first steps to abolish the radical coal extraction process that threatens her West Virginia home.

But two weeks ago, the EPA seemingly reversed course. It recommended approval of a major mountaintop removal mine in nearby Logan County, WV, an operation that would level 760 mountain acres, fill three valleys, and destroy more than two miles of streams.

Read the full story on The Daily Yonder.

Visit the SilverDocs site to learn about the festival and conference.

1253 miles. One motorcycle. One excited filmmaker. SilverDocs.

During the third week June the town of Silver Spring, MD changes shape. Documentary filmmakers from around the world come to this DC suburb to watch some of the most impactful docs at the SilverDocs Film Festival and to attend the SilverDocs Filmmaker Conference, which includes a line up of informative Silver Sessions, The Good Pitch, conference presentations and a range of impressive speakers.

This year, to save on fuel costs and to reduce my carbon footprint, I rode my motorcycle over 1200 miles to attend the event and present The Coal War film project to the leading broadcasters and funders in the world. Everyone from Lois Vossen of ITVS to Patricia Finneran of Sundance heard details about The Coal War film. Highlights from the week included amazing presentations during The Good Pitch, the POV presentation and a phenomenal ITVS Grant Writing Workshop with Richard Saiz, the senior programming officer of ITVS's Open Call.

The Coal War director Chad A. Stevens featured on the Nieman Storyboard, a project of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

"The film was a side effort from producer and filmmaker Chad A. Stevens, who is also working on a larger project, The Coal War, which narrates the fight by activist Lorelei Scarbro to save Coal River Mountain in West Virginia from mountaintop removal. Stevens, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former editor at MediaStorm (which helped produce Leveling Appalachia), has spent nearly four years working on The Coal War so far. Though that film will not be finished until the fate of the mountain is decided, Stevens’ projects provide an interesting take on one filmmaker approaching the same issue in the same medium in different ways."

Visit the Coal Tattoo Blog to learn more.

Mountaintop removal mining in the Gauley River watershed has landed the Gauley on the annual list of endangered waterways published by the group American Rivers.

Go to Ken Ward's blog, Coal Tattoo, to learn more about the Gauley, mountaintop removal and coal issues in West Virginia.

Dear friends,

America’s energy industry has a dirty secret: Our nation’s electricity comes from blasting and leveling our country’s pristine mountains. They do it for one reason: destroying mountains creates more profits, faster, than traditional coal mining.

So, what can concerned citizens do when simply turning on our lights and air conditioners destroys our precious natural areas?

Well, we decided to make a film. And we hope that you’ll help us finish it.

Every penny of the donations we receive will be used to fund the shooting of the final scenes and to cover a month of editing costs.

We hope to send out 500 pre-ordered DVDs, one each to those who donate $25 or more. (Please note - if you donate at the DVD level, the DVD's will be shipped as soon as they are available.) Larger donations will help us meet our goal even faster and will be greatly appreciated!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. And please explore our site to learn how to get involved, to meet our team and to sign up for our newsletter.

With heartfelt thanks,

Chad and The Coal War Team