"... the English took advantage of coal like no other people". Ah, yes, and then there were the famous London fogs. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_soup_fog for a much more detailed and gruesome description of the deadly fogs in London. The worst ever, in terms of human deaths, was December 5-9, 1952, when 4,000 died and 100,000 were made sick during that one month. The burning of soft coal in homes to keep them warm, along with unusually cold weather and no wind movement, plagued Longdon for about 700 years. Once again, humans are simply doing what comes naturally and seems to be a good solution for a problem (or inconvenience, like cold weather) without having any idea of the consequences.
Thanks Bill. Yes, externalized consequences, but they were not externalized far enough! :) When I was young man, a London Fog raincoat was the cat's meow, but I got a cheaper "Clipper Mist" coat. It was years later that I understood where the real London Fog came from, and it was pretty ironic to name a company after it. For centuries, London had the worst air quality on Earth:
That was definitely a big price to pay for industrialization, but amazingly worth it, at least in the short run. Without the coal-fired early Industrial Revolution, the rest would not have happened. Maybe we will get it right this time. :)
"... the English took advantage of coal like no other people". Ah, yes, and then there were the famous London fogs. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_soup_fog for a much more detailed and gruesome description of the deadly fogs in London. The worst ever, in terms of human deaths, was December 5-9, 1952, when 4,000 died and 100,000 were made sick during that one month. The burning of soft coal in homes to keep them warm, along with unusually cold weather and no wind movement, plagued Longdon for about 700 years. Once again, humans are simply doing what comes naturally and seems to be a good solution for a problem (or inconvenience, like cold weather) without having any idea of the consequences.
Thanks Bill. Yes, externalized consequences, but they were not externalized far enough! :) When I was young man, a London Fog raincoat was the cat's meow, but I got a cheaper "Clipper Mist" coat. It was years later that I understood where the real London Fog came from, and it was pretty ironic to name a company after it. For centuries, London had the worst air quality on Earth:
https://ahealedplanet.net/preview.htm#london
That was definitely a big price to pay for industrialization, but amazingly worth it, at least in the short run. Without the coal-fired early Industrial Revolution, the rest would not have happened. Maybe we will get it right this time. :)