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I received this response while tweeting during the first Presidential debate on Wednesday night, and I didn’t write back immediately. A couple reasons — I was moved by this woman and her town, and I felt bad that my tweet had been a little simplistic. And I thought she deserved more than a flip, 140 character response. Cathy - I am very sorry to hear of the job losses in your town. I’ve been out of work — not just as an actor (that’s hardly news), but as a teacher, and as an administrative assistant, and its scary as hell. Right now has got to be terrifying, and I know there are towns all over the world feeling a cold pinch. But I also now that things are not great when the coal industry is booming — the negative health affects of coal on ground water, the health of the miners, and air quality are well-documented. There is no such thing as clean coal, and there is a finite amount of any coal in the world. If we are to breathe easier and save our planet our dependence on finite energy resources has to fade. There’s simply no other way. Again, I’m just a sitcom hack with a big mouth, a lefty sensibility and a Tumblr. But I really do think part of green initiatives has to be training people in the oil and coal business to engineer solar panels, and work on wind farms, and transfer their skills. AND there are studies that say there are ways to contain carbon emissions. The bad news? It will cost money in the short term. But it will pay dividends in the future, when both your kids and my kids are living in a world where they breathe clean air and don’t have to live through 117 degree summers. Also — while I gather it doesn’t feel this way in your town, there has been a spike in West Virginia coal employment since Obama took office.  Take care of yourself, Cathy, and I’m sorry if I seemed a little too much the smartass.

I received this response while tweeting during the first Presidential debate on Wednesday night, and I didn’t write back immediately. A couple reasons — I was moved by this woman and her town, and I felt bad that my tweet had been a little simplistic. And I thought she deserved more than a flip, 140 character response.

Cathy - I am very sorry to hear of the job losses in your town. I’ve been out of work — not just as an actor (that’s hardly news), but as a teacher, and as an administrative assistant, and its scary as hell. Right now has got to be terrifying, and I know there are towns all over the world feeling a cold pinch. But I also now that things are not great when the coal industry is booming — the negative health affects of coal on ground water, the health of the miners, and air quality are well-documented. There is no such thing as clean coal, and there is a finite amount of any coal in the world. If we are to breathe easier and save our planet our dependence on finite energy resources has to fade. There’s simply no other way.

Again, I’m just a sitcom hack with a big mouth, a lefty sensibility and a Tumblr. But I really do think part of green initiatives has to be training people in the oil and coal business to engineer solar panels, and work on wind farms, and transfer their skills. AND there are studies that say there are ways to contain carbon emissions. The bad news? It will cost money in the short term. But it will pay dividends in the future, when both your kids and my kids are living in a world where they breathe clean air and don’t have to live through 117 degree summers.

Also — while I gather it doesn’t feel this way in your town, there has been a spike in West Virginia coal employment since Obama took office. 

Take care of yourself, Cathy, and I’m sorry if I seemed a little too much the smartass.

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