ART ABOUT COAL TRANSPORT

"Coal Train Through the Forest" done on my iPad.

When I am on an airplane or do not have brush in hand, I create art on my iPad.  The two pictures here were made using the Brushes app. Since January 2014, I have been doing artwork related to the problems caused by the burning, transportation and mining of coal.

Last year, while in Sandpoint, Idaho, I witnessed one train pulling 126 (I actually counted!) open coal-filled cars through this beautiful town on its way through Spokane to the West Coast ports.  The ultimate destination for this coal is China.  Just picture this train chugging alongside miles of the pristine forests and clear lakes of northwestern United States.

“It is important to recognize that the only function of coal transport is to link coal mining to coal combustion. The coal mines in the Powder River Basin (Montana and Wyoming) continue to degrade local aquifers and water supplies. Coal combustion in China presents a serious health risk to the hundreds of millions of people, especially children, who live in affected air sheds. Coal combustion is also associated with negative impacts that transcend geographic borders. Ocean acidification, acid rain, mercury emissions, and climate change affect global populations, regardless of where the coal is burned. The financial cost accrued from health and environmental damages from coal mining, processing, transport and combustion are currently estimated at a third to over half a trillion dollars annually in the U.S. alone”.  (Coal Train Facts info@Coaltrainfacts.org).

Let us work collectively and creatively to develop alternative energy solutions.

"Coal Car After Coal Car" done on my iPad.