The book’s thesis is the hidden adverse effects of coal as a source of energy to the livelihood of human beings in the contemporary world. The book also focuses on the coal’s inadequacy to last for a long time in the future. Goodell argues that natural coal is the most cost-effective source of energy in the world as it produces mass-energy. On the other side, coal is the most dangerous source of energy. Coal mining has resulted in miners’ deaths through accidents.
Additionally, coal emits large quantities of waste gas, especially carbon dioxide, to the atmosphere thus causing the greenhouse effect. On the other hand, such energy production requires large quantities of water for cooling machines. However, in most cases, there are no gasification mechanisms to purify the water after getting into contact with carbonic and sulfuric compounds. Therefore, the wastewater is emitted to the natural environment thus causing water and ground pollution, which exposes humanity to deadly compounds.
Additionally, Goodell argues that the natural coal is diminishing quickly, but experts are misinforming Americans on the issue. The author points to the former President Bush’s statement that coal energy will heat American homes for more than 250 million years to come. Goodell argues that if that were the case, Americans would not be losing their homes and neighborhoods to the coal miners.
Hence, the available natural coal cannot last for more than the next 15 years. He argues that the dirty secret is kept to save face while trying to please the shareholders, who have invested in the sector. Particularly, some politicians have received benefits that buy their silence on the big problem facing the future of the US due to coal mining and energy production.
The book has credible information because the author gives pieces of evidence to support his claims and arguments. Coal mining and energy production emits large quantities of carbon dioxide and sulfuric compound gases to the atmosphere.
There is scientific evidence to support this argument and statistics that the sector contributes two-thirds of the carbon dioxide in the American atmosphere. Besides, the author does not rely on mere statistical data and evidence alone. On the contrary, he visited the coal mining sites where he witnessed the process and interacted with people who have suffered from carbon-related health conditions.
Moreover, the author looked into the coal mining and energy production in a broad spectrum by visiting India and China. These countries are heavily relying on the coal energy, and they have been experiencing greenhouse effects. The author argues that coal energy is dangerous to the future generations.
Therefore, it should be abandoned for other sources of energy that are more expensive, but safe for the life of the future generations. Unfortunately, the US wants to dominate the world economy, and thus it cannot abandon cheaper methods of energy production due to the fear that upcoming economies will overtake it.
The author cites the need to remain as the economic powerhouse as the ultimate driving force that makes the US defiant of adopting safe methods of energy production. He supports his arguments by giving financial figures comparing energy production using coal and natural gas. Hence, the government views it as an efficient method of saving money to keep the country ahead of other world economies. On the other hand, China is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia and the biggest threat to the American economy.
However, China is relying heavily on coal as a source of energy, which explains why the Chinese cities are the most air polluted around the world. Visible fogginess in the cities is caused by air pollution from the mushrooming industries. According to the author, there is statistical evidence to support that more than two-thirds of pollutant gases are emitted by coal energy production industries. Hence, the growth of the economy in the contemporary world is being achieved at the expense of the atmospheric and environmental pollution.
According to the author, coal energy has caused numerous deaths both directly and indirectly. He supports this claim by figures whereby there have been more than 104,000 deaths of miners between 1900 and 2005.
These deaths are directly related to coal mining. However, indirectly related deaths are uncountable since hundreds of thousands have died from lung cancer and other related illnesses that are caused by carbon emissions. Besides, there is statistical evidence that coal energy production process emits more than two-thirds of the carbon dioxide, thus causing the greenhouse effect.
The government is defiant of saving the atmosphere from emissions from the coal energy production. According to the author, the government does not want to introduce policies that would compel the coal energy producing industries to install gasification machinery since they would lead to increased cost of energy.
This move is likely to have adverse economic effects, hence making the economy vulnerable to its fast-growing international counterparts. Therefore, the author concludes that the US is sacrificing the livelihood of the future generations to economic-related greed and interests of a few. He states, “The fatality rate in coal mining is almost 60 percent higher than it is in oil and gas extraction. For all that, mining coal probably takes a lot fewer lives than burning it” (Goodell 67).
The author’s arguments are convincing as apart from creating logic, he supports the argument with evidence. Therefore, this information would be of interest to criminologists. The field of criminology relies on facts given to support a claim. Therefore, since the author has given facts, it is necessary for the criminologists to adopt the arguments. I would recommend the book to friends, relatives, and other criminology students.
The book’s arguments affect human lives directly where coal energy puts people in a vulnerable position of exposure to carbonic and sulfuric-related deaths. Therefore, I would recommend my friends and relatives to read it. Additionally, the book is informative since after reading it, a person can hardly settle in areas that are very close to the mines and energy production. Therefore, it is important to recommend it to both friends and relatives for the sake of their health safety.
Besides, the book gives insight into what is likely to happen to the future generations and the reasons why the government cannot step in to save them from the hazardous atmosphere. Additionally, it is a crime for the lives of the majority put at risk at the expense of economic greed of a few. Thus, I would recommend the book to other criminology students.
The author, Jeff Goodell, was born in the Silicon Valley, and he is a fourth generation to his family after settling in that region. He started his writing career as a technical writer at Apple, and he has a BA in English from the University of California.
Early in his career, he worked for the New York City for 7 Days, which is an award-winning weekly magazine, where he operated as an investigative journalist for crimes and dirty politics. He later moved to the Rolling Stone where he worked as an editor and contributed to the writing of numerous subjects. He has also worked for various publications in the US, and he wrote his first book, The Cyberthief and the Samurai, in 1996. The masterpiece, Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future, was published in 2006 after carrying out an investigation for more than three years.
Knowledge about the author influences my opinion as a reader. In most cases, journalists do not have a reputation for becoming activists like the case of Goodell. However, one understands him for growing up in the Silicon Valley and being a descendant of coal miners. Moreover, he was inspired to investigate the coal mining industry after writing an article in the New York Times, which raised public reaction towards unanswered questions.
However, journalists are good investigators since their job enables them to acquire information easier as compared to other professionals. Hence, I am convinced that the author gave credible information. Besides, as a journalist he would strive save his career by writing what the readers would find truthful and convincing. Therefore, the information written in the book is found convincing by considering Goodell’s skills as a journalist and his ability to get facts on the issue.
Works Cited
Goodell, Jeff. Big Coal: The Dirty Secret behind America’s Energy Future, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007. Print.