Hannah Feldman
Blog Post 4

Coal is dirty. Now, I’m assuming we all know that, as coal is black and leaves coal powder on your hand if you touch it.  But what, then, is “clean coal”? I’m not about to rail on the dangers of coal and why we should just plain stop using it as an energy source, because we as a nation can’t just stop cold turkey.

My point: “More than 60 percent of all coal mined in the United States today, in fact, comes from strip mines.” This comes from an article in the Washington Post . “Millions of acres across 36 states have been dynamited, torn and churned into bits by strip mining in the last 150 years.” Is it because the coal companies couldn’t think of a better way to mine coal? Maybe. At least now there are other options.

Hopefully people will buy into alternate energy sources. My father’s house and synagogue are powered by wind energy, an option offered by PECO. My father reports that wind power (as opposed to whatever energy source is normal) costs him five extra dollars a month. That is it.

I cannot think of any real downfalls of wind energy. Taking the sleeper train from Philadelphia to Chicago, we passed through West Virginia. On top of many lovely mountains, we saw wind turbines. One argument I have heard against wind power is that the turbines mar the landscape. I have to disagree. I think they look nice. They’re tall and majestic. Also, I know they produce a fraction of the greenhouse gases of other energy sources, and that makes me like them even more.

I strongly encourage you to read the rest of the article. It is informative and scary. More later.