Check out the recent activism on I LOVE MOUNTAINS DAY – Valentine’s Day – February 14.

Many activists said no to mountain top removal (MTR) mining, and yes to loving mountains and respecting Mother Earth. On Feb. 14th, Valentine’s Day, the Feminist Task Force, together with our partners at the Loretto Community, stood in solidarity with our partners, the Ohio Valley Environment Coalition (OVEC), Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) and the women, men and children of Appalachia in promoting the beauty of the mountains and protesting the mountaintop removal – MTR – and other forms of mining. I Love Mountains Day is an annual tradition with friends and activists who gather to honor the mountains and the people who fight to save them from mining. Love and activism go together — and while in Frankfort, people lobby for the mountains and their communities and march to the Kentucky state capitol. For more information on how you can get involved, see I Love Mountains Day.

In May of 2012, the Feminist Task Force spearheaded the Central Appalachia Tribunal on Climate Justice. Women from throughout the Central Appalachian region traveled to Charleston, West Virginia on May 10th, 2012 for the first US Women and Climate Justice Tribunal to give powerful testimony to the grave impacts of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining on their lives and communities. They were joined by local Tribunal organizers from the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, along with Tribunal partners working at the United Nations, including the Feminist Task Force (FTF) of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and the Loretto Community. For more information, check out the Central Appalachia Tribunal Report.

To learn more visit our climate justice tribunals blog : http://www.climatejusticetribunals.blogspot.com/  For more information on the Feminist Task Force’s Women and Gender Climate Justice Tribunal in Appalachia, download our Appalachia report or watch a video of the event at:

Central Appalachia Women’s Tribunal on Climate Justice Video:

While activist gather in Kentucky, others will be in Washington, DC to lobby the federal government on climate change. Read about OVEC organizer and Goldman Environmental Prize winner, Maria Gunnoe:

OVEC organizer Maria Gunnoe is one of the brave women protesting MTR:

Maria’s statement:

President Obama must end mountaintop removal coal mining. Coal kills from the cradle to the grave. It’s a climate catastrophe and a personal one. We in Appalachia know firsthand what it means when the coal industry moves in and takes over your community. Energy companies and government agencies uproot and pollute the land, air and water that sustains all our lives, with energy as their excuse. This simply is notan acceptable plan for our children’s future. We deserve a healthy energy plan. One that ends mountaintop removal coal mining and its deadly impacts on Appalachian people. No one should have to die for electricity in America.

Maria’s petition on the White House website has only until February 15 to reach the number of signatures required to ensure that Administration officials publicly respond to it. Please ask friends and family to sign here.