Appalachian mountaintop removal
Boone County, West Virginia, USA · 37.95°, -81.60° · Mining damage
Coal companies have blasted the tops off hundreds of mountains and buried thousands of kilometres of streams with the rubble.
Mountaintop removal strips the forest, blasts away up to hundreds of metres of ridge, and pushes the waste rock into adjacent valleys. Studies estimate more than 500 peaks have been levelled across Appalachia and over 3,000 km of headwater streams buried, with downstream water carrying selenium and other pollutants. Reclaimed sites rarely regain their original forest.
In the game
Appalachian mountaintop removal flares up as Land destroyed. The fix is a gesture: slash through the bulldozers to stop the clearing. Done right, it becomes Damage stopped 🌱. Finish all three steps of its chain in one round for a combo, or take your time in Explore mode: a place you fully restore stays green on your map for good.
🧭 Fly there and restore it▶ Play a 60-second round