america is a great and a huge country with massive and unparalleled usage of electricity. some of the very common features of america include,

1. huge massive shopping malls,
2. big home appliances,
3. massive factories that create anything from biggies such as suv's to smallies such as shampoos,
4. super sized single family homes/apartments/condos,
5. massive entertainment/concert halls, giga sized fantasy parks,
6. massive thumping wonderlands that spans thousands of acres,
7. water parks that maintain the temperature of the water finessed to human needs,
8. massive shopping stores that is almost open 24*7*365,
9. foods, milk, ice creams, pizzas, beverages, etc, etc that is cooled 24*7*365 for customer's taste buds,
10. miles and miles of lined up streetlights,
11. heating/cooling systems that work hard everywhere you go keeping you isolated in a super comfy settings bypassing the natural climate and weather wagaries
12. massive water treatment plants - that use huge amounts of electricity - that has been obtained by massive dams without an iota of rain water harvesting

- all and many other things make america a great example of 'development'.

seldom do we realise how this electricity - that feeds the massive consumption - is obtained. in fact this model of 'development' is widely touted as 'developedment' in countries such as India. seldom in india, do we realise that we need low-energy/low-input/low-resource/local-sourced urbanisation/development- as we cannot afford to have america's model of 'luxuriment'.

the main guy that supplies america's electricity is coal. and this coal guy is really not a good guy. it pollutes, it soots, it creates global warming, its toxic, it creates acid rains, its smogs and much more.

it seems america has 250 years of coal supply. (some reports puts it at 1500 years). and this coal guy supplies anywhere from 50 to 70% of america's electricity.

npr's (national public radio) science friday had a program about the coal dated 6/12/06. its titled 'could coal make america's energy'. you can listen to the telecast by clicking on the right hand side link under 'coal' section.

sierra club sums up the coal energy-nuclear energy comparison aptly as "Switching from dirty coal plants to dangerous nuclear power is like giving up smoking cigarettes and taking up crack"

so next time you are about to switch on something that is powered by electricity - stop. think again. do not switch it on if you don't need to.

you can do several things to tell that this coal guy is not your friend. some of them are,
1. switching off electricity,
2. driving down demand,
3. 'saving electricity',
4. lowering your electricity bills,
5. staying off 'luxuriment',
6. demanding green buildings for your apartment/home from builders, property developers, etc 7. demanding your employer make your office more green.

by this way you can help the tens of thousands of families whose entire livelihood is at stake in places such as Tadadi (in Uttar Kannada Dt, Karnataka State, India) because of the proposed massive coal power plant that will pollute and kill the very eco-system in which they depend on their livelihood.

unless we live sustainably/greenly/environment friendly, many tens of thousands of families in places like Tadadi cannot even live.