Dishwasher, lights, the stove, your phone
we can’t live without electricity
though it’s still linked to toxicity,
as the coal industry has shown.
The amount of coal energy use
is still at a whopping forty percent
of the global electricity-source blend,
though it’s renewables, we should choose.
Coal is century-old, dead biomass
or was once a dinosaur, if you will,
but if we keep burning it still,
the dead matter might soon be us.
Coal isn’t cool – we know that by heart.
It’s an influential carbon emitter
that makes global warming go quicker
with ten billion tons in the worldwide chart.
It sure is convenient to mine
underground for coal to shove in
a big high-performance oven
and supply the global power line
but the truth is that the little spark
from the carbon, we set on fire
to satisfy the low-cost energy desire
will blacken the future like coal is dark.
Industries like heat, power, and steal
especially in China, the US, and Japan
are trying to make a cheap energy plan
causing the coal’s financial appeal.
To protect climate and environment
we need a soonish coal phase-out,
however, the industry still goes about
fiscal damage and loss of investment.
Since the Paris Agreement in 2015
to stay below the two degrees,
by 2030, all coal-burning must cease
but at present, this seems like a dream.
In despite, there’s positive news, too.
Since 2015, Europe was able to cut
electricity made from coal in half, but
there remains so much more to do.
Next to reducing our carbon output,
a phase-out promotes health protection
by avoiding the ejection
of heavy metals, toxins, and soot.
Through inhaling fine particles or smog
over a million people, on the downside,
die every year worldwide
in cities polluted with coal dust and fog.
Aquatic wildlife is further threatened
when we use water to wash coal
and discharge the mixture back into a hole,
intoxicating fish, groundwater, and wetland.
The continued use of lignite
has covered the world in ashes and dust
but we must adjust what we combust,
otherwise, the world will ignite.
—
We must cover the “true” external cost
by establishing a CO2 tax
and make up for dirty drawbacks
before the tipping point is crossed.
Let’s not be the fool to still burn fuel
now that there’s much reason to be worried.
Though we dig for matter, once buried,
humanity can’t just bury the problem, too.
We need renewable sources to meet our goals,
decrease coal investments on the spot
or soon the earth will be as hot
as the pain of walking on hot coals.
Sources
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0221-6
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Coal_fired_power_plant
https://www.misereor.de/fileadmin/publikationen/Kohleausstieg-Dossier-2018.pdf
Written by: Amalie Wegewitz