Part visual art installation, part spoken word storytelling, The True Cost of Coal examines the cost of coal-powered electricity, while celebrating stories of struggle from communities in the Appalachian mountains. A collaboration between the Beehive Design Collective and hip hop duo Test Their Logik, this event features large scale murals and stinging rhymes that will resonate loudly in Nova Scotia.

The True Cost of Coal graphic uses mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia as a lens through which to understand the historical and contemporary story of energy and resource extraction.

With a gigantic portable mural teeming with intricate images of plants and animals from the most biodiverse temperate forest on the planet, the Bees will share (and seek) stories of how mountaintop removal coal mining affect communities and ecosystems throughout Appalachia and beyond.

Long exploited as a resource-extraction colony within the US, the Appalachian mountains are home to a fight for survival which has determined, in part, the industrial power of this country. Without coal, mined at a great cost to Appalachian communities, there would be no ‘cheap’ electricity. Today’s energy corporations and government bodies are continuing to show the extent of their greed and short-sightedness as they push their extractive agendas in the “New Coal Rush.” We will expose the deceptions of “clean coal” technologies and bring to light the root causes of the climate chaos the planet is facing today.

The True Cost of Coal examines all of our connections to coal, while celebrating stories of struggle from mountain communities. The last chapter of the story also looks to the future, raising questions about alternatives, remediation, and regeneration.

Presented by the Service Employees International Union Local 2