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A review by worldlibraries
Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese
5.0
Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese is an riveting microhistory of the filthy fuel source that launched the Industrial Revolution and continues to supply energy for humanity in some nations (especially China, India, & USA).
Barbara Freese, the author, was an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota in charge of ensuring that the State of Minnesota's air pollution laws were enforced.
I became interested in reading this book, Coal: A Human History, when I saw a TED talk by Alok Sharma, the British MP who is serving as President of #COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will happen in Glasgow, Scotland.
Alok Sharma said it was his goal to come out of #COP26 with all nations agreeing to give up coal and leave it in the ground. After reading this book, I understand what a reasonable request this is and how it makes complete common sense.
There's fascinating labor history in here about child workers digging tunnels in British coal mines, America's horror at moving from an agrarian society to an industrial one with factories (including the story of why the Reading Railroad plays such a prominent role on your Monopoly board).
Because of all of the engineering and entreprenurial inventions described, this book makes me want to go visit every science and technology museum in Britain to see the Industrial Revolution innovations described within.
So why should coal be left in the ground? First of all, it is no longer cost competitive. All renewable sources of energy are now cheaper. Yes, ALL OF THEM.
Second of all, coal contributes #CO2 to the atmosphere at twice the rate as natural gas for the amount of energy obtained, & 1/3 more than the rate of liquid gas for the energy obtained, making it an easy decision to end coal when reforming systems to tackle the climate emergency.
It's estimated that people living on the East Coast of the United States could extend the visibility of their sight to 45-90 miles rather than the current 14 miles, on average, that people can only see due to coal haze. The haze that hangs over the Grand Canyon, for example, is caused by a coal plant 75 miles away.
Coal use adds mercury to the ecological landscape and it is impossible to clean it up once produced. The mercury keeps evaporating and raining down on populations in an endless feedback loop.
The sulfur dioxide produced by coal use adds particulate matter to the air. This creates acid rain. American coal use rains down on Canadian lakes, killing their lake fish and acidifying their lakes. How much area is impacted? An area of Canada the size of France and Great Britain combined! It will take a minimum of 25 years for Canadian lakes to recover from this pollution should it ever stop.
The particulate matter is so dangerous it is currently killing an estimated 8.7 million people a year around the world. That's way more than COVID, for example.
10-40% of all summer admissions into the hospital for lung-related causes are related to these particulates. At a minimum, they can give you an asthma attack. At the worst, they can kill you. 81 million Americans live in areas that are not currently meeting the EPA health standards. This can impact lung, but also brain development. It's estimated that 60,000 American babies are impacted yearly in utero and become developmentally disabled due to these particulates.
One of the most shocking ways coal is mined in the USA is through mountain top removal. In this method, areas of four different USA states are deemed sacrifice zones. The health and wellness of the people, animals, air, land, and water are sacrificed to produce coal for export. The tops of 500 mountains have been blown off to easily access the coal. Imagine living in a beautiful mountainous area and someone doing that to your vista! Then the leftover toxic overburden (unused rock) is dumped in a valley. Over 2,000 miles of streams have been destroyed by this practice.
We have already increased the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by 1/3. It's estimated we may end up with triple, or even quadruple current levels of carbon dioxide if we stay on our current course.
There are only 20,000 active coal miners left in the United States. When you pay them off to give them an exit to coal mining, it's called a #JustTransition (why they get this special treatment I have zero idea). Literally, that's so few people, it's like 1/5 all of the people who work in museums in the US. But Barbara Freese makes the point we would save more people's lives each year by ending coal use, than would be impacted through coal mining job loss. You just wouldn't be able to tell who was saved.
I just want to congratulate the British people who are in a place to lead on this issue because of all the work their leaders have done, over generations, to eliminate coal from their energy mix. You'd think because of how rich it made them that Brits would be emotionally attached to coal. Not so, starting with conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, their leaders have worked to eliminate coal. Mrs. Thatcher got sick of subsidizing coal mining and stopped doing so. It's astonishing the United States continues to subsidize coal mining given all of the pollution and warming it causes. The Brits only get 2% of their electricity from coal now. Hail Britannia! Please lead! The European Union is close behind them.
The USA and Australian governments are still captured by coal interests and subsidizing them.
I'll put a couple additional links that highlight again how important taking this first step toward the elimination of all fossil fuels is.
Alok Sharma's TED Talk foreshadowing #COP26:
https://www.ted.com/talks/alok_sharma_why_cop26_is_our_best_chance_for_a_greener_future
The dangers of mountain top removal (a practice so revolting when you first learn about it you have to wonder how it ever got started) https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_hendryx_the_shocking_danger_of_mountaintop_removal_and_why_it_must_end
I found this Australian comparison between European leadership and American lack of leadership to be a masterpiece of visual storytelling (remember, both the Australian and US governments are captured by coal lobbies). Who's innovating? Who's looking after their coal workers? Who's politicians are not mindlessly parroting tired coal propaganda and instead are actually science-based? Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMPU8d4-eYk
Barbara Freese, the author, was an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota in charge of ensuring that the State of Minnesota's air pollution laws were enforced.
I became interested in reading this book, Coal: A Human History, when I saw a TED talk by Alok Sharma, the British MP who is serving as President of #COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will happen in Glasgow, Scotland.
Alok Sharma said it was his goal to come out of #COP26 with all nations agreeing to give up coal and leave it in the ground. After reading this book, I understand what a reasonable request this is and how it makes complete common sense.
There's fascinating labor history in here about child workers digging tunnels in British coal mines, America's horror at moving from an agrarian society to an industrial one with factories (including the story of why the Reading Railroad plays such a prominent role on your Monopoly board).
Because of all of the engineering and entreprenurial inventions described, this book makes me want to go visit every science and technology museum in Britain to see the Industrial Revolution innovations described within.
So why should coal be left in the ground? First of all, it is no longer cost competitive. All renewable sources of energy are now cheaper. Yes, ALL OF THEM.
Second of all, coal contributes #CO2 to the atmosphere at twice the rate as natural gas for the amount of energy obtained, & 1/3 more than the rate of liquid gas for the energy obtained, making it an easy decision to end coal when reforming systems to tackle the climate emergency.
It's estimated that people living on the East Coast of the United States could extend the visibility of their sight to 45-90 miles rather than the current 14 miles, on average, that people can only see due to coal haze. The haze that hangs over the Grand Canyon, for example, is caused by a coal plant 75 miles away.
Coal use adds mercury to the ecological landscape and it is impossible to clean it up once produced. The mercury keeps evaporating and raining down on populations in an endless feedback loop.
The sulfur dioxide produced by coal use adds particulate matter to the air. This creates acid rain. American coal use rains down on Canadian lakes, killing their lake fish and acidifying their lakes. How much area is impacted? An area of Canada the size of France and Great Britain combined! It will take a minimum of 25 years for Canadian lakes to recover from this pollution should it ever stop.
The particulate matter is so dangerous it is currently killing an estimated 8.7 million people a year around the world. That's way more than COVID, for example.
10-40% of all summer admissions into the hospital for lung-related causes are related to these particulates. At a minimum, they can give you an asthma attack. At the worst, they can kill you. 81 million Americans live in areas that are not currently meeting the EPA health standards. This can impact lung, but also brain development. It's estimated that 60,000 American babies are impacted yearly in utero and become developmentally disabled due to these particulates.
One of the most shocking ways coal is mined in the USA is through mountain top removal. In this method, areas of four different USA states are deemed sacrifice zones. The health and wellness of the people, animals, air, land, and water are sacrificed to produce coal for export. The tops of 500 mountains have been blown off to easily access the coal. Imagine living in a beautiful mountainous area and someone doing that to your vista! Then the leftover toxic overburden (unused rock) is dumped in a valley. Over 2,000 miles of streams have been destroyed by this practice.
We have already increased the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by 1/3. It's estimated we may end up with triple, or even quadruple current levels of carbon dioxide if we stay on our current course.
There are only 20,000 active coal miners left in the United States. When you pay them off to give them an exit to coal mining, it's called a #JustTransition (why they get this special treatment I have zero idea). Literally, that's so few people, it's like 1/5 all of the people who work in museums in the US. But Barbara Freese makes the point we would save more people's lives each year by ending coal use, than would be impacted through coal mining job loss. You just wouldn't be able to tell who was saved.
I just want to congratulate the British people who are in a place to lead on this issue because of all the work their leaders have done, over generations, to eliminate coal from their energy mix. You'd think because of how rich it made them that Brits would be emotionally attached to coal. Not so, starting with conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, their leaders have worked to eliminate coal. Mrs. Thatcher got sick of subsidizing coal mining and stopped doing so. It's astonishing the United States continues to subsidize coal mining given all of the pollution and warming it causes. The Brits only get 2% of their electricity from coal now. Hail Britannia! Please lead! The European Union is close behind them.
The USA and Australian governments are still captured by coal interests and subsidizing them.
I'll put a couple additional links that highlight again how important taking this first step toward the elimination of all fossil fuels is.
Alok Sharma's TED Talk foreshadowing #COP26:
https://www.ted.com/talks/alok_sharma_why_cop26_is_our_best_chance_for_a_greener_future
The dangers of mountain top removal (a practice so revolting when you first learn about it you have to wonder how it ever got started) https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_hendryx_the_shocking_danger_of_mountaintop_removal_and_why_it_must_end
I found this Australian comparison between European leadership and American lack of leadership to be a masterpiece of visual storytelling (remember, both the Australian and US governments are captured by coal lobbies). Who's innovating? Who's looking after their coal workers? Who's politicians are not mindlessly parroting tired coal propaganda and instead are actually science-based? Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMPU8d4-eYk