What Coal Miners Think About Climate Change

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” ~Upton Sinclair

The trick is not to make the mistake Britain made in the 1980s by abandoning mining communities with no alternative employment or training and letting the towns decay

I doubt that if each coal miner was offered a renewable energy job with an easier workload, higher pay, and better benefits that they'd still be so attached to coal.

One of the most difficult components of this problem, is that these towns were usually only very small places before industry moves in. Therefore, a large majority of the people working in these areas have usually migrated within a reasonably short amount of time, and are trapped by debt, and lack of alternative local opportunity. I personally believe the best policy is one of transition - stop encouraging coal expansion and the migration of people while at the same time stimulating other industry elsewhere.

One takeaway is that these guys work in coal because there is no other alternative but for coal. But in these small tiny towns that are only there BECAUSE of coal, of course, there is no other source of industry. Good reporting.

So many people in here missing the point. It is vital that you give all the families that are dependant on the coal industry for their livelihoods a worthy alternative instead of just closing mines down and calling them dumb. It also actually doesn't matter either if they believe in climate change or not, give these people a REAL alternative and we can all go further together.

Bravo to the reporter. His transparency was really refreshing. Giving a breakdown of his previous work history and his background so the viewer could get more understanding of where he was coming from and why was also a nice touch. Good stuff 👌

I swear the coal miner who ran over a protestor with his horse is surprisingly the most moderate and sympathetic of all the coal miners interviewed lol. He believed in climate change, and said the only reason he works for coal/defends coal is because his livelihood depends on it.

The professionalism of the reporter was outstanding. He has been living his life supporting a cause and he’s talking to people that don’t believe in the basic truth of it.

I worked in the coal mining industry as an engineer, production supervisor, and project manager mostly in southwestern pennsylvania (greene county). I'm now a nurse. It's a feast or famine industry that is dying. It was fun and I miss the hell out of those guys. But never again for me.

I grew up out in the bush, though I live in the city now. Seeing life going by in these communities makes me feel a little homesick. The way the houses are, the way the schools are. Even simple things, like the way businesses are set up. I can understand why they'd want to protect their way of life. These aren't bad people. They're people whose whole life depends on coal mining. No wonder that don't care about climate change: If we took away their industry, then they may as well have been ravaged by climate change in full force. For those who've lived in those places their whole lives it really would be the end of the world.

I work in the steel industry in the UK as an engineer, I am 24 and very clued into climate change, the main reasons which I take from this video is that people have no other source of good income in that area. Its a simular situation to the steel works in port Talbot which I work in, which produces alot of air pollution in the area. It is such a massive provider of high paid jobs that if it was to close or down size then the whole community would be impacted not just for the people who work at the plant.

This is why we need a system that can support people as they transition into a different career, otherwise they will always try to defend their livelihood at the cost of progress (or the planet), many industries are like this

The fact that corporations have such a strong influence on people's lives that they cant afford to do anything differently is horrible

As a farmer I can assure you that climate change is real. Unexpected rains, floods and heat are the challenges we as farmers are facing since last 4 years.these unexpected sudden changes are effecting the yield Edit-: this is what I have observed

Wow what an awesome piece, would love to see some regular follow ups with the same legends now that the LNP are out of power. Plenty have thought of the idea to rehabilitate so many mines across Queensland but to do it as a transition piece and to try and repair Country, well that is a Vision, would be great to see it happen. I hope the relationships you have made stay active for a long time Kim, thank you :)

Yeah, it’s not like Australia has sunlight or anything…

These are the exact same arguments we were making in high school 25 years ago. I was raised in Queensland and have very strong feelings regarding the natural beauty of Western Queensland. There is a solution, we just need to have civil conversations, like you have here, in order to deliver a future that is not beholden to Coal Mines. I sincerely appreciate the people that worked in the mines who want a better future too. Thank you for your work! I know how dangerous it can be to have a different opinion in Australia, let alone, Western Queensland.

The best argument against coal miners that don't want to lose coal (and they don't for a very valid reason mind you) is that governments should have paid training programs for miners to learn how to build and maintain renewable energy sources. We will always need more energy, and it will always need to be maintained. Why not train these people who are obviously very hard working people to do this job and pay them to learn? Market it as both a safer and healthier job that has no chance of being phased out? It's a win win for everyone.

One of the hardest things to come to grips with is nothing truly lasts forever, at least not in its original form. Change may not come all at once but it will come and you need to be ready for it or at least accept it. Whole industries will die. New ones will arise. Some for good, some for ill. Some will benefit, some won't.