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Not burning coal also kills people. This isn't something you can reduce to platitudes, particularly if you are a first world professional who never has to worry
by rsj_hn 4y ago
Not burning coal also kills people. This isn't something you can reduce to platitudes, particularly if you are a first world professional who never has to worry about the price of fertilizer, about the lung diseases caused by burning dung in a small home stove, about freezing to death in the winter, or not being able to power a water treatment plant, etc.
When you are rich, you can spend a lot more to do all of these things, but when you are poor, coal is often the only option because it's all you can afford. For a lot of nations, upgrading to natural gas is a dream that is unavailable due to the cost, and the same nations lecturing poor countries about the harms of coal are also bidding up the price of natural gas as well as oil to make it unaffordable to the rest of the world, effectively forcing the third world to burn more coal.
- bcrl 4y agoAs far as power generation goes, burning coal is the most lethal source of electricity we have. Take a look at https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy or any number of other sources for information on the relative harm caused by various energy technologies. There is absolutely no excuse for a rich nation like the United States to be firing up coal plants that were no longer needed just to mine bitcoin. I detest externalities and the short sighted people that exploit them at the expense of the health of humanity. Edit: Humanity and the planet.