Clean coal is whatever we say it is!

The Greenwash Brigade

The Reality Coalition, spearheaded by the Alliance for Climate Protection, hired the Coen Brothers to produce a peppery retort to clean coal supporters in this fabulous Clean Coal Air Freshener Ad. The voiceover: “clean coal clean harnesses the awesome power of the word ‘clean’ to make it sound like the cleanest there is.”

The coal industry spent $40 million in advertising in one of the most hateful oxymorons of the century: Clean Coal. It’s reminiscent of the Bush Administration’s Clean Skies and Healthy Forest Initiatives whereby any molting PR whiz can attach a resplendent clean, healthy or natural label to anything and just — presto — make it whatever they want it to be! Merriam-Webster is very unhappy about adulterating the word “clean,” but not more unhappy than the Reality Coalition, which paid for the Clean Coal ad.

You can also check out the sullied history of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity here, including the quadrupling of its advertising and PR budget to $30 million in just one year, curiously just before the Presidential elections.

March 9, 2009 by Heidi Siegelbaum
1 comments

Comments (1)

Jeanne Byers Spraetz | Respond
March 11, 2009 6:35 PM PT

Carbon Credits= paying business to do what they should do in the first place to save their own business. Why pay farmers to conserve their land so that coal companies can continue to pollute? There's something wrong with this scenario. What is it worth to pay people for something they should do to save their own profession. And, we are letting coal companies off and are allowed to pollute and feel good about the asthma and cancer they are creating for the insurance companies to deny coverage. Come on! Quit the psycho babble!

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Meet the Greenwash Brigade

Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

NOTE: The opinions expressed by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of American Public Media or its employees. American Public Media is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers.

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