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Coal Capitol
Tue Apr 22, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook's weekly segment on global climate
change.
When it comes to eco-friendly cities, Newcastle, England isn't the first one that comes to
mind. Newcastle is where the British first realized the power of coal. By the time of
Columbus, the coal was piled high in Newcastle and the workers were covered in soot. In her
new book, "Coal: A Human History," Barbara Freese reminds us that Newcastle became "a cliché
for a city saturated in coal." But now the old grey city is turning green.
Newcastle is on its way to becoming the world's first carbon-neutral city. That means for
every pound of carbon it puts into the air through cars or houses or factories, Newcastle will
try to pull a pound of carbon back from the air. But the city emits almost two million tons
of carbon dioxide each year. How can it even things out? The city council has plenty of
ideas: better insulation for houses, a bigger network of electric trains. And some of the
action will take place outside the city walls.
Newcastle plans to plant ten square miles of forest over the next decade. It is hoped those
trees will absorb enough carbon to offset what the city emits. The whole plan is called
"CO2much." If it all works out, Newcastle will have a much different place in the history of
climate change than it had during the Industrial Revolution.
Bob Henson contributed today's story. The Weather Notebook is produced by the Mount Washington
Observatory, and is funded generously by Subaru of America and the National Science
Foundation. Our series on global climate change is supported by the New England Science
Center Collaborative and the Roy A. Hunt Foundation. Thanks today to Marketing Manager Melody
Nester.
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