Big Coal Turning Kids Into Pushers This Primary Season
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 01.22.08
With hotly-contested Primaries in full swing it may be no surprise to learn that some special interests are willing to stoop to the lowest level imaginable if they believe it will help make their message memorable. But Big Coal has certainly taken things a step too far…
It turns out they’ve been running ads in South Carolina featuring children (some under 10) who push coal on the public like some push a different product line on street-corners in bad parts of town. In fact, it’s not so different at all from the classic tactics of your neighborhood pusher, putting kids out there to move the product and leaving them to hold the bag when the bill comes due.
Of course, in this case the bill to society isn’t payable through the law, but via the realities of a warming future… And the kids in the pictures will be the ones to pay it.
As you might expect they’re not leaving anything to chance either, creating a team of crack PR troops to surf the web and counter anyone who dares to challenge their message that “Coal is Cool”. Of course, it’s not cool… Especially not when so-called clean coal technologies are decades away at best, and retrieving the stuff from the ground creates an environmental nightmare like no other.
Not surprisingly, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), the charming little “grass-roots” organization funded by the coal mining industry who is running this ad campaign points only to the electricity generating side of clean coal technologies while overlooking the pollution created to mine and transport the stuff… To quote Leah Arnold, their communications director, "We don't get into the mining issue. Our focus is all about the electricity side of coal, so we don't deal with production or transportation."
How incredibly convenient it is to ignore the inconvenient truth...
See also:: The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See , Great Moments in Green Advertising: GE's "Sexy Coal Miners" Commercial
Are you serious? Are they really using kids to promote coal? They are stooping pretty damn low. Any lower and they'll be in hell trying to nudge the devil out of his throne.
If all of our states departments of energy would promote renewables like a limited number do right now, many more private citizens would install renewable energy. Even if they don't generate all of their own power, every little bit helps. Plus, I'll bet almost everyone who buys into renewables becomes more aware of the total energy they consume and makes an effort to lower their usage. That contributes to reducing demand from nonrenewable resources, too.
This is so damn low. It is so true that kids are the ones that will be paying in the end, thanks to these coal burning haters of the earth. If they think that this is what our future's going to be, then they've totally got somethin else comin there way, and its not our future generations!