I was doing some reading about these power generating ocean buoys, and it's interesting to see all the complaints that pop up any time someone tries to make a new way to capture energy. Suddenly, people really care about the environmental impact of these methods, but never ever in comparison with coal and oil.
I still hear naysayers about solar panels, despite the fact that GPS and the International Space Station has used them for decades.
They really care about the migration patterns of Ducks when we start talking about wind power, but get an Oopsie about a massive oil spill.
Loss of life is very important for alternative methods, but no discussion about the impact when it comes to oil drilling and coal mining.
The fact of the matter is even setting aside the environmental impact, coal and oil are finite resources. Of course, we should care about the impact of how we produce energy, but we have to stop falling for false equivalency. Everything will have a downside, but we can address those issues and still move forward.