We hear a lot about the health risks associated with coal-fired power plants--by far the most prevalent source of electricity in the United States and many other countries--but how can you assess your personal vulnerability to the effects of dirty coal?

The Sierra Club has just released a simple online quiz that will show you how coal pollution is affecting your life, your health and your community.

Take the Coal In Your Life Quiz
Just click over to the Coal In Your Life quiz at www.coalinyourlife.org and answer a few simple questions about where you live, the fish you eat, and your general health and lifestyle and, voilï¿½, the site will email you a score between 1 and 10 that offers a snapshot of your personal level of risk from coal pollution.

Coal Pollution Kills
The health risks from coal pollution are no small thing. A report by the Clean Air Task Force predicted that in 2010 coal pollution would cause some 13,200 premature deaths in the United States, along with about 9,700 additional hospitalizations and some 20,000 heart attacks, adding approximately $100 billion to the nation's annual health-care bill.

And those numbers were roughly half what they were in 2004 when coal pollution caused some 24,000 premature deaths in the United States.

Backing the Coal In Your Life quiz is a compilation of data from a variety of government agencies, nonprofit organizations and scientific studies.

After You Take the Quiz, Take Action
The Sierra Club is encouraging people to take the quiz and then pass it along to at least five friends, hoping that as more people discover how coal pollution affects them and their families personally they will be motivated to join the fight for stronger pollution safeguards on coal-fired power plants.

So take the quiz and see what you think. It could save your life.


