"Coal is the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on our planet."
– James Hansen, NASA's top climate scientist

Pollution

When I was a teenager I went to work in a fiberglass factory. My job was to feed newly spun spindles of fiberglass into a trough of chemicals that led to a conveyor belt in an oven so the sheets could be heated and tempered and changed into rolls of insulation.

The noise level from the furnaces was up near the threshold of pain, so I ignored everything anyone said to me. The fumes from the chemicals were so toxic I had to throw up at least twice in an 8-hour shift, and the fibers that became embedded in my hands caused a lot of pain whenever I touched anything.

I lasted two weeks before I gave up the ghost. I was young and healthy before I started to work there, so my 2-week tenure broke their old employment record for this job by 4 days.

I was still desperate for work after taking a week off to recuperate. So I drove to a nearby city in search of work at an Owens-Corning plant that made various bowls, plates, and other assorted objects from their famous “Corning-Ware” line.

As I neared the part of town where the plant was located, the air became dense with a smelly, yellow cloud. It burned my eyes and made me cough. The nearer I got to the plant, the worse the air was filled with yellow pollutants. I never found the entrance in the yellow fog, so I left to live another day.

The only other job that helped to shorten my lifespan was that of a termite inspector and chemical applier. In this job I crawled under houses (those with crawl spaces) and sprayed the floor joists with the chemical known as pentachlorophenol. This was another of those chemicals that was so deadly it would kill bushes and small trees on contact. The handkerchief I wore over my mouth and nose provided just enough protection to allow me to live past my teen years, but only because my brain advised me to quit while I was still in my teen years.

I was once nearly court-martialed in the military for refusing to work near a source of radioactivity that emitted some 400 Roentgens/hour of gamma radiation. That is the approximate dosage that kills in one hour. The threat of being court-martialed could have stemmed from my response to the job offer more than from my refusal. I’m pretty sure I said “Fuck you” when informed I had been selected to die for my country.

In spite of these early adventures with death in lethal doses, I lived to the ancient age that I sport today. Fortunately, I never got near a coal mine. And that brings me to the biggest source of pollution today.
According to the National Resources Defense Council:

“Coal is America's dirtiest energy source -- and the country's leading source of global warming pollution… Pollution from coal plants produces dirty air, acid rain and contaminated land and water. Health problems associated with coal pollution include childhood asthma, birth defects and respiratory diseases that take nearly 25,000 lives each year.”

And they advise us:

“There are far cleaner and cheaper ways to meet America’s energy needs. Yet industry apologists are spending millions of dollars to block clean energy solutions and persuade Americans that they can keep using coal without the consequences. The better solution is to repower America by investing in clean energy. Green technologies and renewable fuels will create millions of good-paying jobs, lift our poorest communities out of poverty, reduce dangerous pollution and help fight global warming.”

I survived my teen years because I was lucky. But even a cat is limited to 9 lives. Don’t you think it’s time that we all listen to the experts? If not, then gaze at the picture above for about 3 seconds. Then listen to your own brain.