What would you decide if you knew and accepted all the following facts?

Question

There is very little pollutant put out by coal. The Greenhouse Effect is a panic of media-created proportions. Nuclear energy is a bad choice because it's hypocritical and volatile. Oil profits go right back into funding terrorism. But mostly, self-sufficiency in the US demands using the resources we have for our benefit. There is no such thing as a "clean" energy, according to Newsweek, and coal is actually as clean-burning as a fuel can get.

Answer 1

Use coal and conservation to fuel a shift towards renewable sources. Building wind turbines, tidal generators, and geothermal facilities takes an energy investment. Coal could be that investment if properly used.

Answer 2

What facts? If I remember my symbolic logic, given "If A, then B", when A is false, B can be anything and the end result will be true. Therefore, given your premise, if I accept that, anything is true.

Answer 3

Consider that coal is nothing but dirty old vegetation.

Answer 4

what would i decide?

i think it's a false question.

for example, what would you do if there was not enough food to eat, but you could walk under water in the ocean, and eat the seaweed that grows off the coasts?

the greenhouse effect is very real.

nuclear energy is a bad choice -- it's just not as bad as global warming.

Darfur is a result of global warming causing drought, and movement of people to find food.

some coal is relatively "clean" and some is not.  there is no coal at all that does not put out some SO2 and other pollutants.

the question is only, "How much?"

however, the cleanest coal in the world, which is not found in the US, btw, still produces more CO2 than any other fuel available.

Answer 5

Coal is mean stuff.  Mining it really hurts the environment and the people who mine it.  Scrubbers and good combustion practices can minimize, but not eliminate coal pollution.  

Newsweek is correct: there's no such thing as an energy source that doesn't affect the environment to a greater or lesser extent.  We'd do well to eliminate the daily commute to work with good mass-transit programs.  Nuclear power is okay: we're mostly just scared of it, but the physical amount of nuclear waste is actually quite small.  

Oil profits don't fund terrorism any more than anything else those guys do; drug profits probably fund more of their activities.