Gund graduate student Samir Doshi makes a strong case for increasing, and intensifying, the ongoing efforts to save Appalachia. One of the areas he proposes focusing on changing is the controversial issue of surface and mountain-top mining. The damage caused by this mining is wide-spread, directly influencing just about every facet of the natural world. Mr. Doshi says, "It is incredible this is occurring in the most biologically diverse temperate forest system in the world, and one of the most culturally storied regions in our country. More than a million acres, 1,200 miles of streams and 450 mountains have been blown up - the tonnage of explosives used in two weeks to remove mountaintops in Appalachia is equivalent to one of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II. The coal fields have been labeled appropriately as America’s "sacrifice zone" in order to perpetuate our addiction to coal. Mr. Doshi, along with numerous other scientists, ecologist, economists and folks from the general population have some powerful ideas about ways in which we can stop the damage and begin to repair the scars we have created.