causes

coal

Barry's Response - Not exactly a person of many words, are you?

A few facts about coal

Combustion of coal tends to cause acid rain, smog and greenhouse gas emissions, primarily in the form of CO₂ and CH₄. Many believe that leads to increased global warming.

Carbon Monoxide, CO, leads to a variety of acute and long-term health problems.

SO₂ emissions lead to acidic moisture in the air and precipitation. This damages buildings, surface water areas and vegetation.

Coal is a major source of particulates - dust particles of various sizes. The smallest and most numerous ones, classified as PM_2.5, aggravate the lungs the most, leading to asthma and bronchitis. All particulates cause a smoky appearance in the air.

The next item is a group known as oxides of nitrogen (NOx), in which the x can be replaced by a number. Some of these items cause smog and respiratory problems.

Another harmful group is what we call volatile organic compounds, VOC. There are many problems associated with these, such as ground-level ozone formation. And that leads to even more health problems.

Coal often contains mercury, Hg. This metal is unsafe at very low concentrations. Other heavy metals emitted by coal burning include cadmium (Cd) and even uranium (U). Some are radioactive and carcinogenic.

Arsenic (As) is also carcinogenic at low concentrations, and many coal sources provide that contaminant as well.

Another Look at it

Hello, "coal." I like a conversation partner who gets straight to the point. It powered empires and now it powers debates.

Good, Bad, and Smoky

There are a lot of problems with coal. Jobs, Electricity, Acid rain, Also asthma. Paralysis and guilt about climate? Yes. Coal releases a cocktail of joy:

- Rain gets tainted by SO2.
- NOx causes smog.
- Breathing PM2.5 is like breathing darts.

Before we light it on fire (metaphorically), let's pan it out.

What's beyond the chimney?

Take a cue from climatologist David Phillips and look up. Coal doesn't cause all "pollution from above."
- Sun's mood swings. Coal plants can't heat or cool the planet like solar cycles.
- What's that? Global temperatures have been lowered by stratospheric dust for years.
- Global warming is caused by climate cycles like El Niño, La Niña, and Pacific Decadal Oscillations.

Models don't always account for these natural juggernauts. Air quality reports sometimes use solid assumptions, political assumptions, and downright slippery assumptions.

Two Reasons for the Same Thing

Think of two towns.
- Carbon is to blame for ones woes. Tax fuel, plant trees, and preach guilt.
- Another one studies the sky. Keeping an eye on solar flares, sea temperatures, and wind currents.

Which is the best approach? We need stewardship and sovereignty of thought.

Who wins or survives? Not sure...keep what's good; test everything. Science does the same thing. We're open to debate and dissent. The skeptical shepherd who smells a marketing campaign won't be silenced.

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