The gift that won’t keep on giving: ban coal as punishment at Christmas

Once linked to energy security and considered a welcome gift for keeping warm over the winter months,12 coal has since taken on a thought provoking association—encapsulated in the character who each Christmas rewards good children with gifts but leaves the miscreant ones with lumps of coal.1234 Coal gifted as punishment for supposedly naughty children is perpetuated on social media (see #coalforchristmas), and lumps of coal are widely available from major online retailers to encourage this practice. Our younger authors (LHB and MHB) point out that “[coal] is a fossil fuel and so giving children [coal means] the adults are being the naughty ones.” We need to “Be kind to the world.”Why coal should be bannedCoal is bad for the environment and for healthTargets set by the UK5 and ambitious global goals such as the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty6 depend on reducing the consumption of fossil fuel. Coal is a non-renewable…
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