Colleges Combat Coal

Meet the latest environmentalists to join the battle against coal-fired power plants: Co-eds.

According to a New York Times story, the non-profit environmentalist group the Sierra Club and Sierra Student Coalition are partnering with college students across the nation to protest coal-fired power plants on college campuses. The non-profit hopes that through education and public outcry, college administrators will eliminate the power plants from campuses completely.

Coal mining pollutes land and groundwater and mutilates landscapes, while emissions from burning coal have been cited as one of the main sources of global warming.

The Sierra Club is targeting 60 college campuses for its protest efforts, and right now, they are working with 22 schools that contain coal-fired power plants right on campus. The non-profit and its student coalition are recruiting activists to get petitions signed, generate support from faculty members, organize rallies and lobby school leaders. While a lot of the protesting is education-based, some of the more radical rallies include dumping piles of coal outside administration buildings.

Today, Sierra Club released a witty video on YouTube and Hulu. The video showcases the slogan "Coal is too dirty. Even for college:"

To learn more about the environmental degradation caused by coal-fired power plants, click here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.