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Given the recent assertions made by the Bush administration, itwould seem that coal is a glistening new energy alternative, theanswer to the current oil crisis. Few of us realize that coal is already oneof America's biggest and most influential industries; Big Coal providesmore than half of the electricity consumed by Americans today. Everytime we flip a light switch or turn on the television, we burn a lump ofcoal. And coal's dominance is growing.The problem, Jeff Goodell points out in this eye-opening call toaction, is that on close examination, the glowing promise of coal quicklyturns to ash. Coal mining practices are setting us up for economicand environmental catastrophes. Forty percent of the carbon dioxidereleased into the atmosphere each year comes from coal-fired powerplants, and pollution from these plants has killed more than half a millionAmericans in the last two decades. But we've become so complacentabout our energy future that we haven't invested in alternatives. Inthis essential work, Goodell clearly explains how we got here and discusseshow we can get out. JEFF GOODELL is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a frequentcontributor to the New York Times Magazine. He is the author of theNew York Times bestseller Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendshipand Our Faith, based on the terrifying hours nine Quecreek miners spenttrapped underground; he appeared on Oprah to talk with the miners abouttheir experience. Goodell's first book, The Cyberthief and the Samurai, wasabout the hunt for the notorious computer hacker Kevin Mitnick. Hismemoir, Sunnyvale: The Rise and Fall of a Silicon Valley Family, was a NewYork Times Notable Book. |
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