After staging a sit-in for about seven months at Gov. Steve Beshear’s office to protest mountaintop removal, some 20 people celebrated at the Kentucky Coffeetree Café Thursday night.
Organizers also brainstormed ideas on how to keep the protest of the controversial mining technique moving forward, said Andy McDonald, a participant and supporter of the sit-ins.
Some ideas include expanding the protests to five days a week in January until the I Love Mountains Day in February, bringing more people to protest, implementing some performance art to communicate their message, getting more attention from the media and getting support from Beshear, McDonald said.
The protesters are also looking at other forms of civil disobedience besides a sit-in.
Those on had at the café also saw a 20-minute excerpt from the upcoming documentary “The Last Mountain,” McDonald said.
They watched as mountaintops in West Virginia were blasted away.
“Everyone there was very moved by how many people have come out and shown their concern about this, and by seeing the film, it reminded us once again why we’re doing this, by seeing images of the mountains being destroyed,” McDonald said.
“I think we all came away more energized to keep going and keep hoping we can have some impact on stopping this.”
An estimated 90 people have sat in Beshear’s office since a group of 14, including author Wendell Barry, slept in the governor’s office before I Love Mountains Day last year.
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