For the first time, I finally got to really visit the source of John Denver's Country Roads: "West Virginia, Mountain Momma, Take Me Home, Country Roads." Flying in, I experienced the beautiful, autumn-clad mountains of West Virginia where level land was rare, until recently.

I soon discovered the haunting, War Zone-like remnants of "mountain-top removal mining." There have only been a few times when I have seen such devastation and overwhelming force in this country. But this somehow struck me in an even more violent way as the Fall colors were everywhere, right up to the boundary of where the "mining" was taking place.

For the first time I witnessed how a majestic mountain created by God can actually be leveled, filling in streams and creating toxic orange rivers, thousands of unemployed miners and flooded out communities below. King Coal has such control that people are fearful of speaking out.

It was a dark day with a bone chilling wind as an amazing giant of a man, 5-foot tall Larry Johnson of a coal-mining family, led us through two centuries of his family's gravestones in the cemetery on top of the last remaining mountain. Due to the several times a day dynamiting all around, there is a 250-foot long earthquake-like gash that had to be filled in and headstones are knocked over from flying rock shards.

At the edge of the cemetery I gazed out on the leveled mesas all around and massive mining machinery below that devoured the mountain and could easily swallow a bus with a single bite. I felt so small. And I asked myself about my appetite for energy and how I was contributing to this.

I will never forget it nor Larry's brave efforts (documented by 60 Minutes, Nightline and now National Geographic) to save his mountain as he had his tires slashed, his camper shot at, and his name said in vain by those who wish him dead. While he peacefully marched with former US Congressman and West Virginia Attorney General Ken Hechler (now 90) and others to protest mountain-top removal mining on the 80th anniversary of Mother Jones' march on the same roads for miners' rights to organize, they were attacked and badly beaten by 60 miners, with no charges brought.

As I struggle to still deal with the devastation and death of NYC and DC, along with anthrax everywhere, I feel the chill on the mountain-top and feel blessed that there are so many heroes and sheroes risking their lives to save others and our Earth.

I was brought to West Virginia to help turn things around. I spoke about what the Torah teaches us about the Earth at a Conservative Synagogue and was surprised by the positive response and willingness to act, even by engineers and attorneys working for DuPont and coal companies.

I followed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in speaking at the West Virginia Conference on the Environment and facilitating the following day's state planning session for sustainability. It was incredible to watch polarized environmentalists, business leaders and government officials who had no hope of any agreement based on their history of name calling and attacks, actually talk respectfully, get to know each other as people, share common visions and agree upon a joint action plan. It gave me a great deal of hope for the planet.