JOYFUL PIECE #29

Celebrate the small wins over coal— the big ones will come.

Welsh lady carrying coal (1854-1864), image by Frances Elizabeth Wynne, ca 1859, from the National Library of Wales, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Coal use has dropped in the U S. We will have lower emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and the global warming impact will diminish.  

There are many harmful effects from coal burning. The mountain-sized coal stockpiles at power plants hold much radioactive Carbon 14 that has concentrated over millennia in coal. This is an unhealthy exposure to avoid.

Another hazardous effect from burning coal is the release of mercury and other heavy metals that coal deposits hold and have solid links to cancer and other nasty health effects.

Reduced coal mining will mitigate its harmful effects on communities surrounding and downstream from the mines. Runoff from coal piles pollutes local waterways with the substances discussed above. Strip mining coal is even worse as it denudes hillsides, causes massive erosion, muddies local streams and waterways, and reduces carbon fixing vegetation. The dust created coal mining is hazardous to miners, their families and surrounding inhabitants and wildlife. Coal-use has polluted and warmed our environment for a long time.

We have far to go to bring global warming under control, especially with the contributions to greenhouse gas emissions from other countries. Promoting wind, solar, white hydrogen and other carbon-free clean-energy sources will help us get there.

Our demise is greenhouse gas dependent. Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, mega-storms, and disappearing forests throughout the world document the current situation.

The huge barriers to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions are formidable and will not be swept aside through handwringing and negativity. Yet, the reported drop in U S coal use is very good news and cause for joy.

Let’s celebrate a bit here, renew our efforts, and keep the pressure on everybody to maintain a healthy trend towards the elimination of greenhouse gases and pollutants.

20240119