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From: The Environment Report
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
This documentary will take your listeners on a journey from their light switch back to America’s coal fields. We start at Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Lab; visit a coal-burning power generating station; go down into a coal mine in Illinois; travel to the rural counties of West Virginia where mountaintop mining is pulling on the state’s social fabric; and take a closer look at the technologies that promise to deliver coal into the new green economy. The Environment Report’s documentary explores the effects of coal in our lives and in the lives of those who depend on coal for a living.
The documentary is also available on Content Depot.
A big thanks to the people at the Joyce Foundation for providing the funding for this special project. See below for rundown information.
Broadcast History
The Environment Report is a daily news service dedicated to bringing environmental news down to Earth. The unit has been producing environmental news since 1995.
Timing and Cues
00:00-00:59 BILLBOARD
01:00-05:59 NEWS HOLE
06:00-06:30 MUSIC BED
06:30-19:00 SEGMENT A - (12:30) WHERE DOES OUR POWER COME FROM?
We start at Thomas Edison’s lab, go to a power generating station, and wrap up in an Illinois mine.
Incue: music + “And like a good sign in the heavens…”
Outcue: “We’ll be back.” + music
>>>>BREAK w/ :59 music bed: 19:00 to 20:00<<<<<
20:00-38:30 SEGMENT B - (18:30) HIDDEN COSTS OF COAL
We dive into the hidden costs of burning coal. From the social issues boiling over in coal country to the costs to our health and climate.
Incue: snd of train + “West Virginia.”
Outcue: “We’ll be back.”
>>>>>>>BREAK w/ 1:29 music bed: 38:30 to 40:00<<<<
40:00-58:30 SEGMENT C - (18:30) THE FUTURE OF COAL
We check out the industries’ “clean coal” claims and dive into the technologies that are promising to bring coal into the new green economy.
Incue: “You’re listening to Coal…”
Outcue: “… bringing environmental news down to Earth.”
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal Documentary Original Theme | Paul Brill | 2010 | 01:00 | ||
| The Swell Season | Glen Hansard | The Swell Season. | Overcoat Recordings | 2006 | 00:59 |
| Sol | To Rocco Rot | Semper Satago. | Domino USA | 2005 | 01:29 |
Additional Credits
Written by Mark Brush, Rebecca Williams, Lester Graham and Shawn Allee
Produced by Mark Brush and Rebecca Williams
Executive Producer: Tamar Charney
Additional reporting by Erika Celeste, Sandra Sleight-Brennan. Julie Halpert, and Matt Shafer Powell
Production coordinator: Jessi Ziegler
Production assistance from Erin Kelly and Katherine Kelly Martin
Narrated by Lester Graham
Music was composed by Paul Brill
Special thanks to Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford and the Thomas Edison National Historic Park
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Todd Melby
Posted on March 03, 2010 at 03:52 PM | Permalink
Wow! 20 pounds of coal per person, per day
Within the first few minutes of this one-hour documentary on coal, the producers had me reaching for the light switch. According to this report, Americans burn 20 pounds of coal every day. We use it to charge our iPhones, log into Facebook or keep that light on when we don’t really need it.
Other fun facts I gleaned from this documentary: Only 40 percent of the energy in coal is turned into electricity. Coal is cheap. One-quarter of the world’s coal is right here in the USA. Coal miners are paid well, but machines have replaced many of their jobs. And of course, coal pollutes. It’s the number cause of global warming. Plus, it’s kicking out some pretty nasty chemicals that are making some of us sicker.
Like most documentaries, this one is at its best when it’s letting people tell their stories. I liked the interviews with the West Virginia miners at the local Pizza Hut. One of their quotes went something like this: “We don’t want these mountain tops tore down. We want them back also. We like to get out on our four-wheelers and ride around.”
Another favorite quote from the one of the miners: “People make us out to be thus, outlaws. We’re not.”
No matter which side of the energy debate listeners are on, they’ll learn something valuable from this documentary. Including that Thomas Edison was contemplating alternative energy in the months before his death in 1931. Edison, this documentary tells us, believed solar and wind energy needed to be harnessed. How prescient.