Climate change

Coal has long been synonymous with America’s industrial heritage and economic expansion. That doesn’t have to change: the United States has a 300-year supply of coal waiting to be tapped, a predicament that is at the heart of many policy and environmental debates today.

Despite our historical reliance on coal, though, only 42 percent of surveyed eighth-grade students know that coal is the most abundant fossil fuel found in the U.S. And only 26 percent know that coal is used to produce the most energy across the country.