If you’re naughty this year, you could find coal in your Christmas stocking, but if you’re looking for a quicker coal fix, just look around campus.

Members of the Beyond Coal Campaign gathered Tuesday morning to raise awareness about the negative effects of burning coal on campus. Photo by Sara Caldwell

Tuesday, Beyond Coal, a group affiliated with the Sierra Club, hosted a demonstration outside the University Physical Plant. The group used the opportunity to educate students on campus about the negative effects of coal on air quality.

Speakers included Amber Davis, a third year international business and marketing major from Hiawassee, Athens resident Alexa Shea, and elementary teacher Morgan Fleming.

Davis is the alumni coordinator for the Beyond Coal Campaign, and she wants the discussion to publicize the stricter air pollution guidelines proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration.

The proposal adds further restrictions to the amount of ground-level ozone tolerated in a given area.

The proposal sets a standard of 0.06 to 0.07 parts per million.

“Athens has an increased amount of ozone, which is directly linked with the coal plant,” Davis said.

Heather Hatzenbuhler, a first year environmental economics and international affairs major from Lawrenceville, said coal burning harms the entire county.

“It is incinerated in this big furnace. It kind of looks like the inside of a large dragon,” Hatzenbuhler said. “Steam goes out a big pipe and then through a board of pipes to all the different places on campus.”

Harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide all enter the atmosphere when the coal is burned, Hatzenbuhler said.

“They are bad because they’re contributing to global warming; they’re all greenhouse gases,” she said. “There’s also physical waste — ashes — they take it to a landfill.”

Davis, along with other students involved in the campaign, will be sitting in the Tate Plaza today through Thursday offering cookies for comments about the EPA proposal.