Reddit reviews Coal: A Human History

Long story short, someone who does not accept climate change or its human origin does not accept the authority of scientific observation.

When coal started becoming popular in England around the 1300's, it was evident to everyone that burning coal polluted the air far more than wood, the primary fuel source at the time. Great clouds of black smoke billowed out of chimneys and smoke stacks. The haze was so heavy, you couldn't see down the street in the middle of the day. Collectively, people realized that burning so much coal was harming more than it was helping. I can't recall exactly what measure were taken, but a great reference on the topic is Coal: A Human History.

With climate change, the effects are less obvious. The scientific evidence is overwhelming: CO2 levels in ice core samples, temperature data across the 20th century, ocean temperatures from NOAA. However, because the effects are not as obvious as black clouds of smoke, if a person or a community doesn't hold a lot of respect for the organizations carrying out or funding scientific research, then you can imagine that they wouldn't have much reason to believe that climate change is happening.

Note, it is important to recognize that people who do not accept the human origin of climate change are not stupid. When rural Americans complain about condescending liberal elites, it's because of reasons like this. If I grew up in a town of 1000 people where the largest organization was the church, I would be likely to value Christianity more than public school or its attempts to impart a scientific worldview. True, I may not understand the finer points of p-value testing or statistical significance. But I am a thinking, rational being, who may see industrial progress as a threat (farmers, coal miners, trades people, small shop owners) to the security of my family. Given that "out with the old, in with the new" harms these rural communities, it is no surprise that they do not trust the source of this innovation: scientists, engineers, and the people who fund them.

Barbara Freese, Coal: A Human History.

England began using coal on a large scale in the 1200's and 1300's, they used it too cook food and heat homes as well as for ironwork. Barbara Freese even cites a medieval royal decree to force people to stop using coal for fuel, as air pollution had become a problem. (I don't have the book at hand) In fact, the Romans used coal to heat baths in Britain, although there is no record that they used it for metal working.

u/addictedsex is technically wrong, there was very little steelmaking in pre- industrial societies, and charcoal is a cleaner fuel for making crucible steel. But they did use coal to make iron.