Can Green Energy Replicate Sense of Culture, Commu

Can Green Energy Replicate Sense of Culture, Community That Coal Mining Nurtured?

Coal played an instrumental role in human civilization and supplied a significant portion of the energy humanity used to industrialize. Although the fossil fuel has rightfully received a lot of flak over the past several decades because of its part in hastening global warming, it brought communities together and helped to advance the human race.

Many countries are now working to rid themselves of their dependence on fossil fuels such as coal to arrest global warming, a potentially existential crisis that is already causing extreme weather events across the world. However, with the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom transitioning to solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable energy sources, the question is whether these renewables can foster the same sense of community, culture and camaraderie seen in coal mines and coal mining towns.

Many coal miners were proud of their work, despite the danger and grime involved, and the communities living around coal mines often drew a strong sense of culture, pride and companionship from the work involved in the mines. Tragically, one of the repercussions of moving away from coal and similar fossil fuels has been the loss of these communities. Will solar and wind farms eventually lead to some kind of industrial culture in the communities that live alongside them?

The BBC’s Richard Smyth says coal had a significant cultural impact on surrounding communities and wonders if renewables will have a similar effect. The fuel is incredibly difficult to extract from the ground, and the work involved in extraction is often life threatening. For decades upon decades, coal miners risked life and limb, putting themselves at risk of gas leaks, explosions, cave-ins and all sorts of injuries to take care of their families.

This brutal environment fostered an incredibly strong sense of community as well as “profound and lasting comradeship” among the people who spent their days doing back-breaking work in coal pits. Although many of these towns and communities lost something intangible when their coal mines shut down, writer Deborah Rudacille warned of “smokestack nostalgia.”

Rudacille noted in a 2015 essay published in philosophy magazine “Aeon” that many working-class communities in America yearn for an industrial age with coal mines, factories and coke ovens, despite knowing exactly how harmful these industries were to man and environment. Such communities are also vulnerable to manipulation by fossil fuel proponents who can use the sense of culture they feel with coal to further their agendas.

The ball is in the court of companies such as FuelPositive Corp. (TSX.V: NHHH) (OTCQB: NHHHF) that are engaged in clean-energy production. The companies could come up with ways to create a sense of community in the regions where they have operations.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to FuelPositive Corp. (TSX.V: NHHH) (OTCQB: NHHHF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/NHHHF

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