When I was a kid, westerns were popular on TV. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian, and Wagon Train were all “must see” TV back then. These shows had real plots, storylines, and characters with some depth – unlike the shallow fare of today’s “reality” TV. (Who’s reality? Not mine! But I digress.)
Anyway, I seem to remember that one fairly standard plot device in these Westerns was the collapsed mine episode, in which some one or more of the main characters – for whatever reason – were inside a mine when something (often an earth tremor if memory serves) caused the mine opening to cave in. The rest of the episode was always a race against time to rescue our trapped heroes before the oxygen ran out.
Of course, they always made it out alive and were back for next week’s episode.
Granted, this was all fictional and I have no idea if such mine collapses were really as common in the 19th century as they seemed to be on TV. But I’m sure that more than a few such events took place, and probably without so many happy endings.
However, what’s amazing to me is that even with all our 21st century technology and “progress”, deadly mining accidents are still fairly common place. As you are no doubt aware, 29 miners were killed in that recent mine explosion in West Virginia. At the same time, rescuers in China were frantically trying to pump water out of a flooded mine where 12 men had been killed and the fates of another 26 were unknown.
According to the Pace University Energy & Climate Center, 57% of the electricity produced in the United States is from 100+ coal burning power plants. It seems like such a small thing…turning off a light. It’s just little old me, you say. So what if I leave that bulb burning for two hours before going back into the bathroom?
In the wake of these most recent tragedies, it’s pretty clear that every time we leave a light on in an empty room, we’re probably putting a coal miner’s life at risk. When we leave our unused cell phone charger and other electronic gadgets plugged in, not only are we running up our electric bill through vampire or phantom loads; we’re encouraging some mining company to eye yet another mountain top. Yep, they blow the tops off of mountains to get to this stuff, and we send thousands of people miles underground on a daily basis to work in mines where safety violations are, apparently, routine. Then, when the inevitable happens, we watch and hope and pray along with the victims’ families as they await word on the fate of their loved ones. Unfortunately, real life isn’t as neat and tidy as a one hour screenplay.
Can’t we do better? Perhaps it’s time we got serious about moving beyond this dirty, nineteenth century energy source where people risk their lives to feed our addiction to cheap electricity. Perhaps we need to put coal miners out of work, and ramp up new, cleaner, and safer employment for these good folks: like building wind turbines and other assets necessary for clean, 21st century energy.
In the meantime, let’s start by deciding not to waste so much electricity by:
- Replacing our incandescent bulbs with CFLs, and then
- Turning off all lights when they’re not needed
- Unplugging gadgets when we’re not using them; things like empty cell phone chargers as well as “off” televisions, DVD players, computers and other home electronics waste up to $1 billion annually in the US. You can get special power strips now that make this a breeze.
- Replace your refrigerator and freezer if they’re more than ten years old. Depending on the age of the old appliance, such replacement can save as much as 25% in electric costs annually.
- Put up a clothesline and, at least on nice days, line dry instead of using your dryer.
Sometimes living sustainably is about understanding that less is more. So take a moment and flip that switch off. Pull that plug. Save a miner. Save a mountaintop. Save your money.
Have a great day, friends – and keep the miners and their families in your thoughts and prayers. They deserve better.
