Living in Appalachia, it's hard to believe that anyone in the region believes that coal is a viable source of energy for the present, let alone for the future. Less than a year ago in Harriman, Tenn., a coal slurry at a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant broke.
It was an early afternoon when I was walking past Sherrod Library toward my marketing class. I didn't have my iPod and found myself completely tuned into the world and whatever it was going to throw at me. I thought it was too late for a fraternity invite - the posters had come and gone, and I had found a way to dodge the army once again, by attempting to become an economist.