Brown coal mining limits in North Bohemia of mining operations whole villages, towns and even cities (Most) were demolished to extract the coal that lay beneath; their inhabitants were rehoused in large-scale new prefabricated panelled apartment buildings. The low quality technology used for large-scale burning of brown coal led to a sharp increase in the content of harmful sulfur dioxide and aerosols in the atmosphere. The result was wholesale damage to the environment (such as the die-back of the forests in the Ore Mountains from acid rain) and human health. In view of the unsustainable situation, the first post-communist Czechoslovak government decided to resolve the situation by
What Cheer, Iowa suggested the name "What Cheer," and the town was officially renamed on December 1, 1879. Sources differ as to why the name What Cheer was chosen. The phrase "what cheer with you" is an ancient English greeting dating back at least to the 15th century. One theory of the name is that a Scottish miner exclaimed "What cheer!" on discovering a coal seam near town. A more elaborate theory suggests that Joseph Andrews chose the name because of one of the founding myths of his native town of Providence, Rhode Island. According to the story, when Roger Williams arrived at