Fossil-fuel makeover: 'Clean' and 'green' is as polluting as ever
Coal and oil companies are pouring millions of dollars to style themselves as clean and 'green.' But just because they say it doesn't make it true.
In this 2011 file photo, exhaust rises from smokestacks in front of piles of coal at NRG Energy's W.A. Parish Electric Generating Station in Thompsons, Texas. Fossil fuel industries are pouring millions of dollars into revamping their image as clean and 'green.'
David J. Phillip/AP/File
Have you noticed how environmentally-friendly the fossil fuel industry has become? Everywhere I look I鈥檓 seeing听听touting the good things they鈥檙e doing to help people and the planet.
If you watch any of the dozens of recent coal, oil or听,听you would never guess what these industries are really up to.听 They paint a pretty green picture of their industries, making claims like听鈥渨e strengthen communities鈥� and pushing forward fictional concepts like 鈥渃lean coal.鈥�
But calling something听听and green doesn鈥檛 always mean it is. The sad truth is that polluting coal, oil, and gas companies are pouring millions of dollars to redefine their industries as healthy, clean, and green. They鈥檙e sweeping their dirty practices (and deadly coal ash) under the rug. Misleading advertising campaigns are just the latest efforts to cover up for the fact that these companies are blocking clean energy jobs, unraveling basic air and water protections, and setting Americans back听.
Clean energy is an important part of the growing green economy, which already provides jobs to听. In today鈥檚 economy, it鈥檚 a wonder that these fossil fuel companies would disparage any job, especially considering that more Americans work in the wind and solar industries than in coal mining.
听
And our most vulnerable communities are the ones who stand to benefit most from green jobs, because these jobs tend to pay more but have fewer educational hurdles. These are the kind of jobs that help people escape poverty permanently. When polluters stand in the way of clean energy jobs, they add insult to injury.
This point of contention is not to pit one hard-working American against another. The shift towards a clean, green economy听听healthy, safe, family-supporting jobs. A听听from the Economic Policy Institute found that greener industries grow faster than the overall economy, so further investment in the clean economy will continue to generate a greater number of sustainable jobs that cannot be outsourced.
However, coal, oil and gas companies continue to funnel millions of dollars into advertising and 听who, in turn, vote to stifle the clean energy economy. The result? This Congress is the听. It has voted听听against initiatives to safeguard our air and water, protect public health, and provide job training for American workers in green industries.
The fossil-fueled media blitz will only get stronger as the presidential election draws near. The stakes are high and the competition is fierce in many coal, oil, and gas-dependent swing states, where organizations like the American Energy Alliance will shell out听听outright attacks to vilify the clean economy.
We can鈥檛 let them get away with covering up the truth. We鈥檙e working to expose green washing on behalf of coal, oil, and gas executives and their compensated spokespeople, with our very own听听as a satirical example of just how far those industries will go.
鈥撎齈haedra Ellis-Lamkins is chief executive officer of , an advocacy group for a clean-energy economy based in Oakland, Calif., and Washington, D.C.