I have blogged before about my love for the FX Network reality show “30 Days.” This show is done by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (the guy that did SuperSize Me and it puts one person in another person’s shoes for 30 days. Sometimes it is a random person and sometimes it is Morgan living the other life for 30 days.
Last night was the season premiere and Morgan decided to work 30 days as a coal miner. After all, Morgan is from West Virginia – a state known for its coal mining. And, I have to admit, before I watched the show last night, I was picturing “Coal Miner’s Daughter” kind of stuff.
But, the show last night was very enlightening. When Morgan got into the little cart (forgive me, I still don’t know what it is called) and went underground, it was creepy. Then, I realized what these guys have to do every day. You realize that each day, these guys put their lives on the line for a product that we need (coal is responsible for 50% of our electricity), yet people still complain about. Morgan talked to a woman who lost her dad in a mining disaster and wondered if enough was being done to protect these guys when they were underground.
He lived with a supervisor’s family and met his brothers, all of whom were coal miners. One brother had black lung, a disease developed from working in the mines without a respirator. The disease makes it harder and harder to breath over time. The brother affected had to carry an oxygen tank with him and he still got winded easily. The guy Morgan was living with went to the clinic and found out he was in the early stages of black lung after 35 years in the mine. So, you might ask – why don’t these guys just wear respirators? Morgan put one on and besides being cumbersome; he said he felt like he was getting less air, so he took it off. Each year, there are 4,000 new cases of black lung among coal miners in the U.S.
The show talked about the damage done not only to the miners (who make very good salaries by the way – the guys Morgan worked alongside were bringing home $60,000 a year), but environment. Morgan looked at what is called blast mining that is done on the surface, but leaves the mountains looking like the surface of the moon.
He also brought out how proud many of the men of West Virginia are to be miners, even though it is a dangerous, thankless job. It was a job that almost anyone could do, and a job that was handed down in many families from generation to generation.
So, in the end, nothing was really solved – miners are still in danger each day, the blasting is ruining the landscape, the coal mines are ruining the environment, yet we don’t have another source in place to replace coal. Despite all this, it was a very interesting show.