Opaque Lucidity

From Below

As I write this, six miners are believed trapped in a Utah mine. Innovations in safety equipment have made underground mining safer than it was a generation ago, but it is still hazardous work. When something like this happens, I can't help but think how bizarre it is that we rely on men to work underground and dig up flammable rocks, much as people have been doing for most of recorded history. Of course, almost everything we use to produce energy comes from the ground: oil, uranium, etc.

I used to work with a man who was born in a company-owned town in West Virginia. When the town's coal mine closed down in the early 70's, the company closed the town as well. I suppose the land was sold off to someone else, but the town died. This man's hometown ceased to exist because the coal seam was used up.