Lost Mountain Part 3

In the foreword of the book Wendell Berry discussed the "rational" and the "sympathetic" mind. Theses two mindsets are very basic and therefore are fairly easy to understand. The "rational" mindset is one that is based on a single short term goal with little to no consideration of the negative effects. It is based off the feelings of a single person whereas the "sympathetic" mind is looking at the both sides of the picture both negative and positive. The "sympathetic" mind is looking for a conclusion appropriate to balance the needs/wants between both sides.
Reece exhibits his own “sympathetic” mind when he describes the “methods of operation” for Leslie resources. He states “it takes a thousand years to build twelve inches of topsoil on these steep slopes .But it will only take the dozer driver a few hours to scrape it all away”(pg 186). He later states that this is “just one example how the true cost of coal is externalized onto the land and the people of Appalachia while absentee coal companies siphon off profits”(pg 186).On this page Reece shows his sympathetic mindset by relating the ideals of the coal company to the negative effect experienced by the Appalachian people form their actions.
A second example of the sympathetic mindset of Reece occurs when he is speaking about meeting with the three men from the Department of Natural Resources. Reese states “ There was a general sense of touchiness all around. I almost wanted to apologize to the regulators for putting them through this:I wanted to assure them that I was not a bad guy, ans wasn't out to make them look bad. This was one day when I actually held a degree of power and leverage against the leviathan industry, but I found that I wasn't much enjoying it.(219)” Reece describes that even though he has the power over these operators he does not feel good about having the possibility of exploiting their work. This is very different from the opposite mindset of the mine operators who exploit the people of Appalachia with little of no sympathy for the negative effects that the strip mining has on them.
In the the conclusion of the Lost Mountain on quote that really stuck out to me was “ That we now live in such a highly mechanized world, and that such an artificial environment is the source of much depression and violence among Homo Sapiens , is a theory that stretches from Alexis de Tocqueville to Thoreau to Paul Shepard to the Unabomber. We move from house to garage to car to work to mall to gym to house again with little regard to our ancestral homeland- ancient savannas at the edge of vast forest”(pg 241). I believe thats this statement is very true even for students in college. Most of us have our daily or weekly schedule thats shuffles us from class to class, building to building with little of no time spent outside the Athens City limits. I think it is very important for us to take time away from the city, cell phone, ipod, and computers. I think this goes along with the book's theme of how the increasing demand for coal for electricity production has led our society to look to unconventional ways of mining such a s strip mining. If we can all spend more free time outside doing things that don't require the use of electricity then we would decrease the demand, if only a small bit, of electricity.