The word is terracide. It is not committed with guns and knives, but with relentless
bulldozers, roaring dump trucks, and giant shovels like mythological beasts. Dynamite cuts
and rips apart mountains to reach the minerals inside, leaving nothing but empty, naked
hills. The land is left wasted and allowed to slide down upon houses and into streams,
making the land unlivable and the stream water undrinkable. This is terracide, or if you
prefer, strip mining.
1. The author's purpose is to
a. inform you about the purposes of strip mining.
b. describe a strip mining operation.
c. persuade you that strip mining is bad for the environment.
d. define terracide.
