The high cost of coal.Most of us rail against the evils of coal without knowing much about it. Barbara Freese's brief, well-written book, Coal: A Human History (Penguin penguin, originally the common name for the now extinct great auk of the N Atlantic and now used (since the 19th cent.) for the unrelated antarctic diving birds. , $14) will arm you with the facts. Did you know that coal (once thought to be alive!) represents the death and burial of long extinct plant life hundreds of millions of years ago? Freese is utterly in command of her material, and tells the story of coal with high drama. England's skies blacken black·en v. black·ened, black·en·ing, black·ens v.tr. 1. To make black. 2. To sully or defame: a scandal that blackened the mayor's name. 3. as coal makes the industrial revolution possible. Coal turns Manchester and Pittsburgh into soot-covered living hells, dark at 3 p.m. Coal miners here and abroad fight a mainly losing battle for union recognition, safety and living wages. Freese, an environmental attorney and state regulator regulator, n the mechanical part of a gas delivery system that controls gas pressure that allows a manageable flow of drug vapor to escape. regulator see reducing valve. in Minnesota, makes clear that the coal wars aren't over. Coal fired power plants burn coal because it's cheap, and the Bush administration is rolling back cleanup efforts. As a source of smog and a severe global warming global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. aggravator ag·gra·vate tr.v. ag·gra·vat·ed, ag·gra·vat·ing, ag·gra·vates 1. To make worse or more troublesome. 2. To rouse to exasperation or anger; provoke. See Synonyms at annoy. , coal is still king. |
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