Coal Use in America Hum156

Today Americans face an issue revolving around coal plants and their detrimental affects on society. Many around the United States rely on coal to produce electricity to power homes and businesses. “Coal is considered a nonrenewable source because it takes millions of years to form”, which eventually will run out. Many are rising up to speak about the adverse effects of living near coal plants. Young mothers infertile, thousands of cases of people becoming ill with asthma, and cancers plaguing those around these plants. In addition to the risk for human life, there is also concern for the earth itself and the temperature rising due to greenhouse gases released by these plants.

This is a moral issue for people around the world and especially those in America where coal use is the highest. One human wouldn't kill another human and get away with it, but no one seems to notice when environmental issues caused by humans kill others. We have a civil responsibility to uphold a clean earth for ourselves and the future of humanity. Ignorance is the cause for this moral issue and educating people is the best way to start making a change. Also, we need more options available to use for clean energy. If more choices were available then more people would be willing to change their way of using energy.

The dilemmas we see locally are with sick humans and erratic weather because of the climate change. There are not many coal plants in Texas compared to other areas, but health is severely declined in the areas where coal plants reside. Houston and surrounding areas are notorious for health complications due to poor air quality because of gas, oil, and coal plants. Texas has also seen the most erratic weather in years in the latter years because of climate change caused by toxins in the air. Record breaking snow falls, when it normally does not even snow, and extreme heat waves in the summer months.

This dilemma will be no easy task to tackle because we have built a...