You often don't think about where your electricity comes from but in the United States about 45% of the power we use comes from coal. Our show looks at coal from a different perspective looking into the socioeconomic impacts of coal in rural communities. There are things being done to overcome the environmental impacts and perhaps it is better for the US to take advantage of it's huge resource of coal and find ways to use it in a more environmentally friendly manner rather than to stop using it as an energy source. It may be that managing for wild fire would make a larger impact on the environment than shutting down a major energy producing industry such as coal.
Sites to take a look at:
http://www.worldcoal.org/
Wild Fire Study: http://ucanr.edu/files/48008.pdf http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ContributionPollution/ http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireInfo_statistics.html
