I am the Lorax and I speak for the...coal?

The Greenwash Brigade

Unbelievable. Dr. Seuss must be rolling in his grave. Three businessmen have hijacked the name of the Dr. Seuss environmentalist classic, “The Lorax” to greenwash a planned coal gasification and chemical plant: I bring you LoraxAg, “architects of clean technologies.”

It’s two-for-one: I’m offended both as an environmentalist and as an architect.

I am the Lorax and I speak for the… well, for the high sulfur coal…and synthetic fertilizer?

The company brochure (PDF) reads like a Twilight Zone version of the Dr. Seuss classic. Amid warm and fuzzy pictures of hands planting a seedling (and rail cars presumably full of ‘clean’ coal), the brochure boasts that the chemical plant will produce “ammonia, urea, and sulfuric acid” with “inexpensive high sulfur coal reserves” bringing “high paying, high skill jobs.”

Yeah, that definitely reminds me of the Lorax: The part about chopping down Truffula Trees and emitting Gloppity Glop and Schloppity Schlop in order to provide jobs for the Once-ler family. Guys, you’re not the Lorax. You’re Once-lers! ‘Once-ler-Ag’ would be a more fitting moniker, ‘architects of greenwash’

It’s barely February, and we already have a contender for greenwash of the year.

February 2, 2010 by Jim Nicolow
4 comments

tags: clean coal coal gassification greenwash Lorax LoraxAg

Comments (4)

Jo | Respond
February 2, 2010 11:44 AM PT

It looks like Dr. Seuss Enterprises is suing LoraxAg. Big surprise there. Via Green Inc.

Valerie | Respond
February 3, 2010 6:56 PM PT

There is no such thing as CLEAN COAL!! Do they really think we are that stupid?!

Kim | Respond
February 3, 2010 8:05 PM PT

Looks like the links don't work anymore-I wonder why...

Jim | Respond
February 8, 2010 9:15 AM PT

The New York Times reports that the Lorax spoke for Dr. Seuss, with a cease-and-decist order for LoraxAg: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/of-dr-seuss-and-coal-gasification/

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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.

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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