Search - Burning the Future: Coal in America on DVD

A col' diss of coal

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 08/28/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First off, you may want to watch the special features before the main one. The special features speaks about the dangerous cause-and-effects of coal in a much more succinct fashion. The main documentary spends the first five minutes in a coal mine for no reason. This is an example of making a documentary longer than it had to be.

In the fair journalism mode, the documentary interviews coal's supporters. However, this work clearly has a viewpoint and it is far from impartial. This is a green documentary very proud of itself. I wonder how they encouraged the opposition's participation here.

Waste pools have spilled killing individuals. People can't eat fish in the few streams left. This work really gives West Virginia a bad look. Those with state pride may feel insulted here. Folk can't really eat the fish they catch. The water from natural resources are sooty from pollution. This adds that there's really no such thing as "clean coal," there's just stuff not as bad as the current stuff.

I love and applaud green messages, but they can be so depressing. If you don't like hearing bad news, it will be difficult to watch this whole documentary. When I saw a work on how solar energy, wind power, and even algae may save the planet, I watched with ease and felt hopeful. This is not that happy type of work! Some people knew what was going to happen in "Return of the Sith," but that doesn't mean they wanted to experience it. Those who are easily put in a bad mood will have trouble watching this documentary."

There is No Clean Coal--and that's only the beginning

Martin Shackelford | Saginaw, MI USA | 11/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An informative look at environmental and health impacts of coal mining in West Virginia. Why coal isn't a good bet for our energy future."