Letter to the Editor
ByTo the editor:
I think South Africa should close coal mining operations and replace them with solar farms. coal mining and solar both have their difficulties, but coal mining is worse.
Impacts on the environment
Solar farms are much more ecofriendly than coal mining. For example, both need a lot of space. Solar farms need lots of space for solar panels but when a solar panel is no longer useful, they are replaced, and the solar panel is recycled. Coal mining needs lots of space to mind coal and when there done using the land it is no longer useful because it is destroyed and polluted with acid mine drainage. Energy made from coal also causes air pollution. When the energy is made, they burn coal which causes air pollution. This air pollution can cause global warning, acid rain and can release toxins into the air. I think coal mining effects the environment more than solar farms do.
Impacts on health
Coal mining has a big impact on human health. Coal contains toxic metals such as lead, mercury, nickel, tin, cadmium, antimony, and arsenic these are very bad for humans. Coal mining can cause respiratory diseases, lung cancer, heart failure and cardiac arrest. These are all very serious and depending on how bad you get it you can die. Coal mining is very dangerous for humans, and no one should be exposed to it.
Resources
Solar farms use the sun to make energy and coal mining uses coal to make energy. We will always have sun to make energy from solar farms but that’s not the case with coal. We will end up running out of coal, so we won’t have it to make energy. If we are going to run out of coal, then instead of continuing to use it we should replace them with solar farms so we can figure out how to make them better.
Looking at all this information I think it would be better to close coal mining operations and replace them with solar farms in south Africa.
Websites used