Worldwide, coal-fired power plants contribute more to climate change than any other source of electricity. The smog they create leads to millions of asthma attacks each year, and their mercury emissions poison children and kill wildlife. And while Americans are all too familiar with mountaintop-removal mining, Australians face a different environmental threat from coal: the loss of important – and gorgeous – coral reefs. According to Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of Queensland, "Climate change is now recognised as the greatest long-term threat to the Great Barrier Reef… Any further addition of C02 into the atmosphere will directly damage the Reef, its natural ecosystems and the future opportunities of people and businesses that depend upon its pristine and natural values.”

This is clearly the wrong time to build additional coal mines in Australia, or anywhere – which is exactly why Australian landowners and conservations are opposing the creation of the massive Wandoan Coal Project in rural Queensland. This mine would, by itself, emit twice the carbon as all the citizens of Queensland combined.

Join them in protecting both the environment and reef-related jobs: Tell Parliament that the world is counting on them to protect the planet and stop this mine.

Picture credit: The Great Barrier Reef, courtesy Wikipedia.