a 1907 Deep Waterway Convention speech – Memphis, Tennessee, Theodore Roosevelt said, “the conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.”
Isn’t it remarkable that 109 years later while we’re much smarter about environmental impacts, we continue to have an insatiable appetite for hydrocarbons to the point of driving global geopolitical instability? Roosevelt was a futurist on this topic.
President Roosevelt was a true conservationist and champion of the American west. Rivers such as the mighty Missouri featured at the start of this film were a welcome sight and life blood supporting expansion across the country. Without his direct involvement and leadership, many of our parks and national wildlife refuges we cherish today would not have been possible, but left to the chance of industrial development and exploitation.
In the early 1870’s and well into the late 1960’s, strip mining was prevalent across southeastern Kansas. Coal, lead, zinc and many other minerals contributed to the state’s economic growth. By 1962, the largest electric shovel in the world went into action in West Mineral Kansas, capable of removing 90 cubic yards in a single pass, devastating the landscape to support industrial expansion. This area of Kansas was mined extensively via strip mining which requires the removal of the overburden to get down to the underlying coal and mineral beds. Huge mounds and valleys were left unattended and overtime filled with water. By 1994 the State of Kansas had had enough and enacted the Surface Mining Land Conservation and Reclamation Act requiring mines to have a reclamation plan, bond and reclaim the site to a natural state to lessen the hazards and restore utility of the land. Unfortunately many areas prior to this Act remain in their former mining state, a permanent scar on the landscape.
Filmed with a DJI Phantom Vision 2+, edited and color graded with Sony Vegas. The majority of this film was shot in fully autonomous, hands-off mode while other portions with full piloting controls. Portions of the film have been sped up to compress the time over the vast distances covered. Air traffic control audio courtesy of JFK airport in NY to simulate the “departure and control sequence” of flight but no actual correlation to events filmed. None of the sites featured had aircraft in the area nor were within five mile restrictions. Flown within visual flight ranges, max altitude 375ft AGL. Music by Random Forest, “See the Storm” courtesy of the Music Bed.
