When you speak against coal, the most likely rejoinder is that half of our electricity is generated by burning the ultra-dirty fuel. (See the first comment. He adds that coal is "all natural, too.")   And that's true. Even though I hate the stuff, I acknowledge that I like my electricity, and I use it all the time, and if we ditched coal tomorrow, my electrical supply would quickly put me in touch with what it's like to live in, say, Baghdad.

We're not getting rid of coal any day soon. I get that, OK?

What I'm saying is, it has to go at the earliest possible time, and we have to put significant effort, starting now, into bringing that day closer. There is no such thing as clean coal so far; nor is there any expectation that we're close. Even if it is part of our present, coal is a dark, ugly vein to the past and has no place in our future.

No one disagrees with this — nobody — unless they have a direct economic imperative to do so. Such proponents bring to mind the tobacco company presidents who came before Congress and swore that smoking was not injurious to health. Held up their freakin' hands, on camera, in front of Congress and the Lord, and lied through their teeth.

So just because we use it now is not not NOT any justification for sticking with it and longer than we have to, even if we're stuck with it for now.