Student Haikus from Prof. Popov’s Environmental Justice Class, Spring 2026

Mountain Top Removal

Appalachia

extraction combustion waste

slurry sludge scattered.

(Kastuv Palanchoke and Donald Reith)

Scars of the Appalachian Mountain

Desecration breaks

Appalachian peaks bare —

Coal scares poverty.

(Gabrielle Samuels, Karol Caraballo, Fatim Kante)

The Poem of Fallen Mountains

Coal burn mercury

Mountain top removal large

High poverty rates

(Erik Ocampo and Sky Luna)

Decay

Mountains destructions,

Bleak, toxic waste, infecting,

Earth and land deprived.

(Danny Garcia, Mir Adnan, Gregory Torres)