“Rollin’ Coal” Is the Coolest New Way to Kill the Earth
In small towns all over the United States, people are "rollin' coal," the hot new way to kill the environment.
Dropping hundreds or thousands of dollars on the projects, diesel drivers are modifying their cars or trucks to make them spew toxic, black soot, and then posting pictures of the vehicles at work to the Internet.
"Rollin' coal" has become so popular that it's now an Internet subculture. The environmentally destructive pastime's page on Facebook has accrued more than 16,500 followers and the hashtag for "rollin' coal" has gotten more than 175,200 posts on social media. As one meme reads, "Roll, roll, rollin’ coal, let the hybrid see. A big black cloud. Exhaust that’s loud. Watch the city boy flee."
As Slate's David Weigel puts it, people are rollin' coal because it "double...