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This article originally provided by The Herald-Dispatch
November 2, 2006
Racine woman a Women Of Peace award recipient
RACINE, Ohio -- Elisa Young, of the Gallia County, Ohio town of Racine, was named a Women of Peace Award Winner for 2006.
Young is organizing groups of neighbors to protest proposed coal-burning power plant near her community along the Ohio River. She organizes "True Cost of Coal Tours," to invite media, politicians and activists to connect with communities across Appalachia being devastated by mountain top removal mining, coal processing facilities, power plants, permanant waste landfills, and chemical sludge impoundments.
She travels to share at conferences and community gatherings, and is developing a film project to carry the message beyond the coalfields. "Appalachians are being disproportionately forced to absorb the externalized costs of blasting, flooding, plummeting property values, cemetery destruction, and compromised health -- costs that never show up on an electricity bill. We have to enlighten people about the true, human costs inherent to coal-generated electricity," she says, to redirect our nation's coal dependence toward a sustainable energy future.
The 12 women and one youth chosen as recipients of the 2006 Women of Peace Awards by the Women's Peacepower Foundation include both community activists known only in their own small towns and world leaders known in every nation. They are honored for their courage in developing peace projects and promoting nonviolence, regardless of personal, financial and health risks.
Part of the goal of the Women of Peace Awards is to find the unsung grassroots volunteers and workers who are creating positive change and nonviolent solutions. Candidates for the award are found through a combination of research by the foundation staff and nominations from the public. The foundation gives $250, plus a compilation of support materials, to each winner with the intention of encouraging their activism.
For more information about the awards, log onto www.womenspeacepower.org.
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