Energy in Its Material and Social Context: Power Plants*

One way for science teaching to have significance beyond the classroom is for science education to be in the service of community organizing and ethical decision-making. Power plants have tremendous social significance both locally and globally. In what follows, we will consider the energy dynamics of two electrical power production facilities: (1) the largest coal-fired electrical power production facility in the United States and (2) one of the facilities that provides significant electrical power to the authors. Rather than analyzing power plants apart from their material and social context, we suggest an analysis that includes the relationships between the power plant and the surrounding human, plant, and animal communities, as well as lands, waters, and air. Our intent is to model an approach to energy learning that begins to prepare students to engage in ethical decision-making about energy resources.