The year was 1984. The issue was not complicated. One school in New York City was heating the school building with bituminous coal. That is the “dirtiest” kind of coal. You could see the coal dust in the air, feel it on the children’s desk. I was the co-chair of a group called the Coalition for Safe Schools. Our goal was simple: make the board of education change the heating system to something cleaner.

I wrote an op-ed in Newsday that attracted the necessary attention.