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The climate change facts are one of the environmental challenges facing the sustainable development of coal. One of the coal costs is global temperatures are rising due to greenhouse gases emission which results from use of coal as a source of energy. The emission of these gases is mostly during the utilization of coal to produce energy. Another challenge of the development of coal is it is a non renewable resource. Therefore its continual use is unsustainable in the long run. Though the coal reserves are expected to last for hundreds of years to come, the fact remains that mining industry cannot present itself as a sustainable industry. Therefore ensuring the long term viability of coal as a source of energy is a big challenge. The coal mining industry is also in conflict with the indigenous people, the workforce and with the mining communities in general. Recent coal news has stated problems with coal mining. The West Virgnia accident is a prime example of bad coal news. The mining communities are not ready and willing to tolerate the noise, coal trains, dust and the large holes that are left after mining. The coal mining industry has a challenge of making a positive impact on local communities. The long working hours that the mining industry expects its workers to work are unsustainable in the long run. The hours has been addressed in the U.S. but in many is ignored in many foreign countries. This has resulted into young people leaving the coal mining industry due to high fatigue levels. Therefore the mining industry has experienced an unsustainable use of labor. Many countries have been unable to control coal mining and its use towards economic development. This is more so in politically unstable countries with large coal reserves but which have not able to utilize coal for development. Another challenge is in the effective control management and usage of land especially after coal mining has been completed. Also the reclamation of the land to avoid safety hazards has posed as a challenge. A final challenge is that though the coal mining industry has put much effort in environmental management in its mine sites, the use of the final product has had a negative impact on the environment. The mining companies have no direct control over this problem (Maitland, 2003). When coal is produced into a final product, the companies that use the coal must seek to mitigate its environmental hazards. Strengths of sustainable development of coal Economic growth and environmental protection are parallels that are usually in conflict in most cases. But the concept of sustainable development comes in to resolve this dichotomy and stress the fact that it is possible to have economic development while at the same time protecting the environment (Glasson et al., 2005). Many countries and governments worldwide are committed to the principles of sustainable development as they have realized that it is possible to eat a cake and have it. By turning the challenges into opportunities, most countries have been able to apply a values- based strategic approach and are willing to collaborate with other partners to achieve sustainable development. Other Notes. For coal sustainable development to occur, companies must take action for true sustainable development. A priority must be taken in the sustainable development environment. All stakeholders must involve in a sustainable community development. All sustainable development projects must be an sustainable environment development. Any corporation obtaining sustainable business development must not forget about the environment. Especially the sustainable development Africa, is having problems protecting the people and the planter. The concept of sustainable development, utilizing only sustainable development work with sustainable development information will result in a true triple bottom line. In order to conserve the environment sustainability, any humanitarian services organization must protect the environment first. Without protecting the environment, any humanitarian studies business will not be able to sustain a long term profit utilizing natural resources. The people planet and profit is the only theory to be affective in conserving environment.
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