Environmental Impacts of the Industry
Facts About Coal
- It's a fossil fuel that, when burned, generates electricity
- Burning coal releases carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury compounds, and nitrogen oxides into the air
- Over 7500 people in the US die every year due to power plant emissions
- 1/3 of CO2 emissions come from coal burning
Health Risks Associated with Coal
- Damage to eyes, skin, and respiratory system
- Damage to kidneys, lungs, and nervous system
- Neurological function impairment
- Cardiovascular and pulmonary disease
- Reproductive, developmental, and cancer outcomes
In 2010, coal emissions alone resulted in $3.7 billion of public health damages
Effects of Climate Change in the US
- Droughts and heat waves
- Wildfires
- Tree and plant diseases
- Sea level rise
- Biodiversity loss
- Food-, water-, and animal-borne diseases
- Extreme weather
- Reduced air quality
How Climate Change Affects Your Home Region (taken from the 2014 National Climate Assessment, found here)
Northeast
- Heat waves, heavy downpours, and sea level rise
- Infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystems will be increasingly compromised
Northwest
- Reduced water supply
- Sea level rise, erosion, inundation, risks to infrastructure, and increasing ocean acidity
- Increasing wildfire, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases
Southeast
- Sea level rise threats the economy and environment
- Extreme heat affects health, energy, and agriculture
- Decreased water availability
Midwest
- Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding affects infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality
- Great Lakes put at risk
Great Plains
- Rising temperatures lead to increased water and energy demands
- Hurt development, strain natural resources, and increase water competition
Southwest
- Increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks
- Inreased wildfires
- Decreased water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, flooding, erosion, health impacts in cities due to heat
Alaska
- Has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the US
- Rapidly receding sea ice and shrinking glaciers
- Thawing permafrost
- Wildfires
- Rising ocean temperatures and acidification hurt fisheries
Hawaii
- Ocean warming leads to coral bleaching and disease outbreak
- Limited freshwater supplies
- Flooding and erosion
- Threats to food and water security, infrastructure, health, and safety
Effects of Climate Change Globally
- Biodiversity loss
- By 2100, 20-30% of species will be at high risk of extinction
- 2/3 of polar bears could die out by 2050
- Oceans are acidifying faster than they have in the past 65 million years
- Bleached and destroyed coral reefs
- Destruction of forests
- Rising sea levels and thinning ice
- Arctic sumer may become ice-free by 2050
- Coastal cities will be lost and islands destroyed
- More extreme weather
- 2000-2009 is the hottest decade ever recorded
- More wildfires will destroy entire regions
- Increased flooding
- 75-250 million people living in Africa alone will be exposed to increased water stress
- More intense and frequent hurricanes
- Human health threats
- Very dangerous heat waves
- Disease spread
- Air deterioration
Resources
- http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/coal.html
- http://www.lung.org/assets/documents/healthy-air/coal-fired-plant-hazards.pdf
- http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/coal/
- http://www.catf.us/fossil/problems/power_plants/
- http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/hawaii-and-pacific-islands
- http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nowhere-run-climate-change-will-affect-every-region-u-s-n98396
- http://www.edf.org/climate-change-impacts
- http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/