ABSTRACT
Fuel is a ubiquitous necessity and a potent force both in structuring and maintaining cultures and in hastening their change. Coal is the most prevalent fuel worldwide at present. Coal mining in the United States, a physically demanding and dangerous trade, is associated with a set of cultural values that result in a fatalistic and traditionalist mindset that is resistant to the introduction of new fuel technologies and new ways of thinking about energy in a larger framework than that of the immediate region. Fuel use is a habit, so a thought experiment could be done imagining what might happen if oil, for instance, or natural gas were restricted in supply. An actual demonstration of learning new fuel use habits can be done with a Coleman stove equipped with the baking oven attachment.
