As shown in the video below, submitted by Gary Tulie, Harvard University reports that coal dust and the exhaust from coal-fired power plants killed at least 460,000 people over the last 20 years.
Where we tend to think of coal-powered electricity as a principal cause of climate change and other forms of long-term environmental damage, we often overlook the devastation in causes to human life–and the families of those lost to lung disease. What about the impact on the children who now grow up fatherless and/or motherless?
The title of this post implies that it’s possible to ascribe a dollar-figure to this enormous catastrophe, and I suppose it is. If there were a series of class-action lawsuits, there would be gaggles of actuaries in insurance companies with huge spreadsheets running what-if calculations.
But in this case, no one’s paying. The atmosphere is simply a sewer that the operators of coal plants dump their effluent–for free, regardless of the damage.
A couple of months ago, I happened to ask a friend who had emigrated from Sweden if she was religious. “No!” she exclaimed. “Almost no one in Sweden is religious.”
As we see at left, there seems to be a huge correlation between atheism and the national level of happiness. But what causes that?
Are believers unhappy people for some reason? That doesn’t make sense.
Here’s my two-fold theory. Atheists believe:
a) That we only live once, so we try to enjoy it while we can.
And, more importantly,
b) That we need to take care of one another (since there is no God). We’re willing to make sacrifices if that means things like great education, universal healthcare, environmental responsibility, tolerable working conditions, and near-zero poverty.
Renewable Energy
From the Independent: “Trump Administration to Pay Two More Companies to Walk Away from U.S. Offshore Wind Leases”
From this article in The Independent:
The Trump administration announced two more payouts Monday for energy companies to walk away from U.S. offshore wind projects under development.
Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have agreed to end their offshore wind leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million. Both companies have decided not to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the United States, the Interior Department announced Monday.
Bluepoint Wind is an offshore wind project in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, while Golden State Wind is a floating offshore wind project proposed off California’s central coast.
Trump is hellbent on destroying the renewable energy industry so as to benefit his billionaire friends in fossil fuels.
He’s on course to be remembered as the most destructive person in world history, with the possible exception of Adolph Hitler.
What is said here about Pete Hegseth is clearly true.
But keep in mind that he’s fiercely loyal to Donald Trump, and Trump couldn’t possibly care what happens to the United States, as long as he can stay out of prison and enrich himself and his family.
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Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
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Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
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Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Awaits DeSantis’ Approval
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The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
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