By Eric Freedman
President Obama’s recent proposal to reduce power plant emissions that contribute substantially to climate change has drawn renewed attention to the scientifically validated connection between burning coal and disruption of the climate.
It also drew predictable objections from Republicans: job destroyer, too expensive, unnecessary, presidential power grab – even the discredited argument that there’s no such thing as human-induced climate change. The traditional utility industry raised objections as well, centered on practicality and cost.
Coal is important to Michigan – which has no coal mines of its own –which imported more than 7 million tons in the last three months of 2013 to provide more than half the state’s electricity. It’s also important to other Great Lakes states. Indiana, Ohio and Illinois – all of which do have coal mines – were among the five states importing the most coal last year.
The connection between coal and environmental damage isn’t news to those of us at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.
Continue reading
Category Archives: All
Chasing clouds
By David Poulson
In 1673, fur trader Louis Joliet and the Jesuit missionary Father Jacques Marquette spotted coal outcroppings along the Illinois River.
That’s the first recorded coal find in the U.S.
And it’s an indication of just how deep the roots of conflict run in Closing the Cloud Factories: Lessons from the fight to shut down Chicago’s coal plants.
The book picks up on other historical gems such as how turning the midway of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair into the “City of Lights” helped determine how the rest of the nation would be electrified. And we are introduced to Samuel Insull, a former assistant to Thomas Edison. His shrewd capture of the demand for electricity by street car companies fueled the growth of Chicago’s power grid.
Continue reading
River in the prairie
Turtle River and Civilian Conservation Corps pavilion at Turtle River State Park. Image: Eric Freedman
By Eric Freedman
This place doesn’t match your North Dakota stereotype of endless prairie stretching flat to the horizon in all directions, having been squashed flat by massive glaciers. Nor does it match your stereotype of marathon acres of wheat, flaxseed, barley and oats punctuated with International Harvester and John Deere mega-equipment. Nor that of the proliferating roads, dust and drilling rigs of the Oil Patch that’s bringing jobs and economic prosperity – and environmental worries – to the state. Continue reading
Depicting a 'Rosie' climate
Image: Eric Freedman
By Eric Freedman
The Obama administration’s recently proposed rule to reduce power plant emissions that contribute to climate change – or climate disruption – has provoked sharp criticisms from Republicans and utility companies as too expensive or unworkable or unnecessary. Meanwhile, some environmental groups say the EPA plan doesn’t go far enough.
Relying on executive authority under the Clean Air Act, the rule is aimed at carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that produce an estimated 40 percent of U.S. carbon pollution.
In a May 31 address, President Barack Obama said, “Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists declared that climate change is no longer a distant threat – it ‘has moved firmly into the present.’”
But of course, there are skeptics who deny that human-induced climate change is a crucial problem, not just in the United States but globally.
How do they explain climate disruption?
Well, at the recent Denver Chalk Art Festival in the city’s historic Larimer Square district, I saw this piece of art titled “Wrath of Rosie.” I don’t know what the sidewalk artist intended to depict, but to me it can be interpreted as one alternative, non-scientific, explanation of climate change.
Eric Freedman is Michigan State University’s director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism