7/28/2019 Campus Talk Paper on Coal and the Environment

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Jacob Salo

Ethics and the Environment

Campus Talk Paper

3/28/2013

Coal production and the toll that it takes on the environment has always been a controversial

issue in the United States. While it does have its uses in terms of energy generation, many studies have

begun to suggest that coal may actually be more trouble than it's worth in terms of of the negative

effects that it has on both the environment and now further still on both related and seemingly unrelated

effects. In the lecture The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health , Dr. Alan H.

Lockwood, a professor of Neurology of the University at Buffalo, details some of these effects, what

causes them, and how they can be remedied.

A big point Dr. Lockwood made in his lecture was just how dangerous coal production on its

own can be. He talked about how many coal miners suffered from black lung disease early on due to

the conditions of the mines they worked in, adding further that it fell in 1969 after a law was enacted

but later kicked up again in the 90s due to lower regulations being followed. Further, Lockwood also

provided evidence that emphysema, cancer, and other coal-related diseases are more common in areas

that have a lot of coal mining operations and adds air pollutants also contribute to the four main leading

causes of death in the United States. There is also the issue of accidents with coal mining that can put

toxic materials such as arsenic into the ground water, mostly due to coal ash not being regulated as

closely as it should. In addition, Dr. Lockwood also brought up information about 70% of rail traffic is

related with coal transportation. He also adds that this has a higher-risk for causing rail accidents and

used a specific example of a catastrophic accident which claimed the lives of two women, further

noting that this isn't a rare occurrence.

Lockwood continues by going into the effects that burning coal has on the environment. He

states that there is one billion tons of coal burned each year and in turn produces 100 million tons of

waste. This kind of air pollution has caused at least 62 billion dollars worth of damage to the zone

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layer, putting things like sulfur dioxide and mercury into the air, the latter of which can come down in

rain and affect both food and water, particularly fish. To go along with this, Lockwood comments on

how the massive amount of coal burning and production can have a further damaging effect of an

international nature, causing some of the pollutants to be carried across the world and have an increase

in risk of stroke for people in other countries and also coming along with global warming which can

cause droughts that reduce food supplies and contribute to world hunger as well. Another heavy point,

as noted by an information packet provided at the lecture, is that there is also an effort to begin

exporting more coal to Asia, with Montana providing a significant amount of it as well. He finishes by

adding in that a solution to the issue is that sustainable energy like solar or wind power should be

getting more focus before the problem gets any worse.

While I agreed with a lot of the points Dr. Lockwood made in term of how dangerous coal can

be, there were a few things I would've changed with the lecture. For one, there were a lot of statistics

being thrown out without much introduction or elaboration and I would also have appreciated a bit less

focus on more technical medical jargon in the presentation, but Dr. Lockwood is, well, a doctor so

that's not too big of an issue. Another point I would've liked to see would be more explanation of the

rail traffic accidents he mentioned, possibly going with more examples than just the one provided.

Despite these faults, I still liked the presentation.

This kind of call to responsibility to fix problems with coal production in order to reduce or

remove the negative health and environmental effects evokes the idea of Utilitarianism with reducing

pain as much as possible while increasing pleasure. If the statistics are true, then a lot of the people

suffering from coal-related diseases are experiencing a large amount of pain that is most likely

permanent. The best way to fix this problem of a large amount of pain is to go about fixing these issues

so that others will be able to experience more pleasure with being healthy and happy, thus fulfilling a

lot of the utilitarian aspects with pleasure over pain.