For immediate release: March 25, 2011

BLOOMSBURG — The Beehive Design Collective will bring its “True Cost of Coal” graphical and narrative campaign to Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Monday, April 4, sponsored by the BU Planeteers, SOLVE, the Green Campus Committee, the Department of Finance and Legal Studies and the Civic Engagement Center.

The Bees will present the graphical poster and accompanying story about its creation and significance at the Scranton Commons Amphitheater from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. They will follow the presentation with a workshop on “Community Organizing for Environmental Justice and Outreach” from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Warren Student Services Center, room 004. The workshop will be led by Joshua Kahn Russell, co-author of “Praxis Makes Perfect,” who spent four years as the Rainforest Action Network’s grassroots action manager. Both events are open to the public free of charge.

Two years in the making, “The True Cost of Coal” is a narrative illustration that explores the complex story of mountaintop removal coal mining and the broader impacts of coal. The image is the culmination of a collaborative research process based on hundreds of interviews with community members throughout Appalachia. The Bees crafted these stories into visual metaphors to share with audiences as a larger-than-life banner, interweaving anecdotes, statistics and history.

Bruce Rockwood, chair of finance and legal studies and adviser of BU Planeteers, met the Bees at the Common Ground Organic Farmers Fair in Unity, Maine, in September 2010, and invited them to BU. Information on the Beehive Collective is available at www.beehivecollective.org. For information on their appearance at BU, contact Rockwood at rockwood@bloomu.edu.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 9,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Education, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.