With climate change looming, it seems so completely backwards to go back to using it again.

Is it coal miners pushing to keep their jobs? Fear of nuclear power? Is purely politically motivated, or are there genuinely people who believe coal is clean?


Edit, I will admit I was ignorant to the usage of coal nowadays.

Now I'm more depressed than when I posted this

  • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
    hexbear
    26
    10 months ago

    And they’re going for coal in some places because the political situation has made other reliable energy sources unavailable:

    • the Russia-Ukraine war has destroyed natural gas supply lines to Europe
    • anti-nuclear activism has resulted in lack of nuclear investment

    Outside of coal, nuclear, and natural gas, there aren’t many options for reliable sources of electricity.

    • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      9
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      the Russia-Ukraine war has destroyed natural gas supply lines to Europe.

      Didn't the US bomb them, tried to blame Russia at first, and are now trying to blame Ukraine? With friends like that, who needs enemies?

      The big problem with nuclear is scalability and infrastructure. The power plants take long to construct and require huge investment. Even if that's solved and the whole world goes nuclear tomorrow, there's huge doubts about there even being enough easily minable Uranium. Honestly solar and wind should be the way to go, but then there's the intermittency issue. Which is an issue fossil fuels don't have. At this point degrowth is desperately needed to avert the worst effects of global warming.

      • @riley0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        hexbear
        4
        10 months ago

        now trying to blame Ukraine

        Blaming Russia was either stupid b/c putting the Nord Stream out of commission hurt Russia, or cynical b/c they thought we'd be stupid enough to buy that story. Blaming Ukraine has a basis in reality. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-had-intelligence-ukrainian-plan-attack-nord-stream-pipeline-washington-post-2023-06-06/ We may well have done it, as Biden promised, in concert with Ukraine or without them. https://www.wsj.com/video/video-biden-says-no-nord-stream-2-if-russia-invades-ukraine/B5942F2D-E4E5-4BD1-8CB3-8816A2ECAF19.html

        • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexbear
          2
          10 months ago

          Look up the stuff Alex Hirsch has been putting out over the last decade.

          It's Gravity Falls, and a background role producing The Owl House. Great shows! The LGBT representation in the latter goes hard, and I love everybody involved pushing back hard on Disney to make it happen.

          Anyways, I actually meant Seymour Hersh. I just typed it wrong at first, but I felt compelled to gush about some incredible kids shows with great messages.

          The US did it and Norway helped.