There is a good chance the modern conveniences of anyone living along the eastern seaboard of Australia have been switched on with energy produced in the coal-rich NSW Hunter region.
And while the ultra-marginal seat of Hunter could, in theory, decide who wins government, it seems a transition to renewable energy has not been entertained as a campaign-worthy concern by the two major parties.
Residents are desperate to see a clear plan of how their community could bend and change as global climate emission reduction targets inch closer.
A lack of local policy announcements is causing nervousness amongst voters.
Neither Prime Minister Scott Morrison nor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese have visited the region's major population centres of Singleton or Muswellbrook during the campaign.
These are the areas where the intensive mining happens.
Residents say they are tired of watching money from the coal they produce spent around the country while they wait for infrastructure and services promised time and again, by all sides of politics.
Muswellbrook resident Jessica, who did not want to give her surname, said her town had been forgotten about.
Projects such as the Muswellbrook Bypass, which was first promised and costed in 2000, have been wheeled out again.
It was re-promised by the Coalition in the early days of the campaign and very quickly matched by Labor.
It marked the only major campaign announcement for Muswellbrook by the Nationals as they pushed to win Hunter for the first time.
And with a margin of just 3 per cent, they're in with half a chance.
Fellow Muswellbrook resident John Flood said the bypass would not be built in his lifetime.
Meanwhile, wait times for medical services have grown due to staffing and service issues.
Housing supply across Hunter is thin to nothing and squarely on the minds of voters right across the region.
There have been no direct federal announcements during the campaign by the Coalition or Labor to address either issue in Muswellbrook, Singleton or surrounds.
Nor have there been any direct announcements targeting the Hunter's transition away from coal, such as jobs retraining or climate targets.
Questions unanswered
The lack of local announcements was noted by former Muswellbrook mayor Rod Scholes during a Labor press conference this week.
Fellow Muswellbrook resident Don, who also didn't want to give his surname, said he too thought the region had been forgotten about.
He said his family worked in the mining industry.
"This town should be bustling," he said.
"There should be more here for people."
Australian National University researcher Rebecca Colvin said perspectives like Don's were overwhelming in research she published this year which focused on the complex viewpoints of the Upper Hunter community.
" [They said] it really felt like those decisions were being made at arms-length from them," Ms Colvin said.
Muswellbrook was this week named the third most polluted town in Australia.
Ms Colvin said a resident told her their concerns for the environment often fell on deaf ears and they feared the region had the balance "so wrong" when it came to mining and other industries.
"It's almost like there's this shared narrative... that everyone sees the future as being either a safe climate and a clean environment or prosperous jobs, but when you speak with people... there's a strong desire to find that balance," she said.
Stability and planning
The younger generation, in particular, want to see a plan for their future.
They want to know what to study. They want to know when new jobs will come online to replace coal jobs.
Both major party candidates in Hunter are loudly supporting the future of the area's mining industry.
Labor's Dan Repacholi, a former coal miner, argued the industry would continue as long as there was export demand alongside renewables.
The Nationals' James Thomson, who has often been joined on the campaign trail by Deputy Prime Minister and coal advocate, Barnaby Joyce, argued a similar line.
The Greens have offered the only direct coal transition-related policy with leader Adam Bandt touting a mine-worker retraining plan, to help communities like the Hunter to become less coal dependent.
Pauline Hanson's One Nation, which polled third in the last federal vote in the Hunter, and prominent Independent Stuart Bonds won't entertain the idea of the mining industry winding down either.
The issue of the Hunter's future is making people nervous now, as it has been for years.
They're yet to see clarity for their future in this campaign.
