The Scar Inflicted On China By Coal Mining

China is the world's largest producer of coal, but the price that the people and environment are paying for its extraction is enormous.

Thousands of acres of land in China's northern coal mining regions are sinking because of the ravages of underground coal mining. The sinking results in tremors similar to those caused by earthquakes.

In addition to the tremors are sandstorms fed by growing man-made mountains of coal waste, some 50 stories high.

And then there are the underground coal fires, fouling the air as well as releasing carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming.

"Each year, scientists say, about 200 million tons of coal — more than was burned in all of Japan last year — are consumed by raging underground fires that are sometimes started by lightning and sometimes ignited by mining accidents."