The Wire

The burning of black and brown coal is by far the major contributor to Greenhuse gas emissions, and yet despite agreeing to international climate change abatement measures Australia continues to support the expansion of coal mining. The authors of ‘Big Coal’ say that this is effectively living off the world’s addiction to the substance which is regarded as the greatest threat to life on Earth. They also analyse how the industry continues to gain governemnt support and public trust in spite of the fact that its activities severely threaten the environment and  most of the economic benefit goes offshore.