If the world replaced all of its oil usage with carbon-neutral energy sources, ecologist Kenneth Caldeira of Stanford University calculated that it would only buy us about 10 years before coal emissions warmed the planet to what many scientists consider dangerous levels. (Via givemesomethingtoread.)

I’ve been working on a teen novel starring a tenacious 15-year-old who solves a conspiracy behind an off-shore oil rig disaster.  I toyed around with making the central “accident” (that is, crime) related to coal — faithful readers know how I feel about those dark materials — but I thought it didn’t seem Big And Bad enough.

The news and anti-coal media campaigns this fall and winter have certainly proven me otherwise.  Something for the sequel.