The Problem With Coal

"GLBNews Service: In all your research for this book, what stands out the most regarding the coal industry's impact on our quality of life?

Jeff Goodell: I'm tempted to say the destruction of Appalachia by mountaintop removal mining, the health impacts of air pollution from coal plants-24,000 premature deaths a year, according to the American Lung Association-the presence of toxic mercury in our lakes and streams, and, most alarming of all, the fact that coal plants contribute more than one third of all man-made global warming pollution.

But I really think the thing that stands out most, in retrospect, is the degree to which the coal industry has convinced America that modern life is dependent on burning coal-that any attempt to wean ourselves off coal will mean lost jobs and rolling blackouts."