BEEHIVE DESIGN COLLECTIVE and LIVE PERFORMANCE THISTLE AND THORNS
2012-04-27 00:00 - 02:00 UTC | The Raw Deal, 603 South Broadway Menomonie WI 54751
The Beehive Design Collective presents The True Cost of Coal:

A Visual Exploration of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

The Swarm is coming! The Beehive Design Collective is heading this way to present their True Cost of Coal graphics campaign!

The Bees will present their high energy, interactive, graphics-based picture-lecture [or workshop] on Thursday, April 26th, 7-9pm at The Raw Deal in Menomonie. Admission is free, but a suggested donation would be greatly appreciated; all are welcome!

Over three years in the making, the True Cost of Coal is a collaboratively-made, highly-detailed, allegorical illustration brought to life by the Bees themselves: volunteer activists, artists, storytellers, and educators who use hand-drawn cartoons and stories from grassroots communities to explore the connections between local, everyday stories and the bigger picture of our historical moment.

The True Cost of Coal depicts the complex history of Mountaintop Removal coal mining, the most extreme form of surface mining for coal. To create their elaborate illustration, Beehive volunteers first interviewed hundreds of folks throughout the Appalachian region whose lives and livelihoods are affect by the coal industry. "People are experts in their own lives and experiences," explains one Worker Bee. "No one understands the story of coal better than folks who are living it every day. Our goal with this poster has been to amplify these stories- to create a visual megaphone for the folks most affected by resource extraction."

Emphasizing the resiliency of communities on the frontlines of energy production, globalization, and climate change, the Bees highlight grassroots, community-led solutions to the energy crisis and invite us to look critically at top-down strategies that promise more mounting social and environmental crises in the pivotal years to come.

With gigantic portable murals teeming with intricate images of plants and animals from the most biodiverse temperate forests on the planet, the Bees' mission is to "cross-pollinate the grassroots," drawing audiences together around common experiences and hopeful possibilities for collective action.

For more information and to view the graphics visit www.beehivecollective.org OR beehivecollective.blogspot.com.
