Fire and Pollution Got Invented Together!

Coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is responsible for nearly 40 percent of American emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Although Americans stopped burning coal in their homes in the 1930s, in locomotives in the 1940s, we Indians continued to use them.

We used coal for cooking at home until mid-1970s. I remember how coal in a big gunny bag was delivered (by Shivaji on handcart) and stored. I knew very well how to clean,load and fire a coal sigri. I still miss brinjal, sweet potato and bhakri (jowar/ Sorghum roti) baked on coal fire. Even rice tasted better.

While coal fired food made it to our tongues and hearts, coal fired locomotive made it to our dreams. Although I saw Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” (1955) much later, we lived the famous scene of the film- children come face to face with the train-many times before. Our favourite place to while away time was Miraj station’s shunting yard. I still smell cocktail of steam and coal fire.

JEFF GOODELL’s "Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future."
“…Coal has a number of virtues as a fuel: it can be shipped via boats and railroads, it's easy to store, and it's easy to burn. But coal's main advantage over other fuels is that it's cheap and plentiful. There are an estimated 1 trillion tons of recoverable coal in the world, by far the largest reserve of fossil fuel left on the planet. And despite a run-up in coal prices in 2004 and 2005, coal is still inexpensive compared to other fuels. In a world starved for energy, the importance of this simple fact cannot be underestimated: the world needs cheap power, and coal can provide it.

In a world that is moving toward energy efficiency, coal is a big loser. Alternative energy guru Amory Lovins estimates that by the time you mine the coal, haul it to the power plant, burn it, and then send the electricity out over the wires to the incandescent bulb in your home, only about 3 percent of the energy contained in a ton of coal is transformed into light. In fact, just the energy wasted by coal plants in America would be enough to power the entire Japanese economy. In effect, America's vast reserve of coal is like a giant carbon anchor slowing down the nation's transition to new sources of energy.

Al Gore was one of the first American politicians to take global warming seriously, and anyone who takes global warming seriously is not a friend of Big Coal. Coal industry executives knew that if Gore was elected, regulations to limit or tax carbon dioxide emissions wouldn't be far behind. So Big Coal threw its money and muscle behind George W. Bush, helping him gain a decisive edge in key industrial states, including West Virginia, a Democratic stronghold that had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in seventy-five years. After the disputed Florida recount, West Virginia's five electoral votes provided the margin that Bush needed to take his seat in the Oval Office. President Bush made good on his debt. Within weeks of taking the oath of office, Bush began staffing regulatory agencies with former coal industry executives and lobbyists.”


Artist: Joseph Farris The New Yorker 14 March 1970