Forum Post: Clean Coal Using OWS in its Pitch
Posted 7 months ago on Sept. 30, 2012, 12:47 p.m. EST by hchc
(3294)
from Tampa, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eR6oNbJqQ4&feature=youtu.be
Found this on an occpiers facebook page (not sure of the original source, just to clarify that with the link Nazi here)...
Pretty messed up. What the hell is clean coal anyways? I cannot think of a single instance of coal ever being clean. Its filthy stuff.
paid for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
at 7. xx seconds you see Occupy Wall Street banner, it lasts roughly two seconds, and is followed by a headline in the paper, Household electricity bills skyrocket
[the image of the article is captioned: Source: Energy Information Administration]
The news article is on a computer screen, you can see the following buttons:
Comment, [facebook] and Tweet
That lasts about two seconds, and by 11 seconds the image transitions to that of an electric meter.
Time is the main theme, symbolized with images of clocks, and in the background you hear a ticking clock throughout the ad.
AmericasPower.org/CoalFacts is the ending banner, and the narrator encourages a visit.
This is an advertisement attempting to persuade viewers that the solution to social unrest - typified by an Occupy Wall Street banner and protests - and rising costs as it pertains to energy, is clean coal technology. It is using the known principles of association as a part of its ad.
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Well okay then, let us get the facts -
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SourceWatch - Clean Coal
This article provides an overview of both the political and the marketing dimensions of clean coal, and the technologies for using coal that have variously been touted as "clean." Each topic is explored in greater depth in separate articles, as are several related topics:
read more here >>
Introduction
The term "clean coal" is both controversial and complex. Controversy arises out of the coal industry's use of the term in its high-profile marketing campaign aimed at convincing the public and politicians that the goal of using coal without damaging the environment and public health is either a current or a foreseeable reality. Coal opponents assert that such usage is not factually based and that its main purpose is to provide public support and political cover for continued expansion of coal use.
Three factors combine to cause additional complexity in the debate:
A history of shifting terminology:
Gap between old plants, new plants, and next-generation plants:
The "whack-a-mole" problem:
. . . . . . . . each of these are covered in greater depth here >>
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Why this ad appears on a facebook page belonging to an OWS supporter is an interesting question which I do not address. There are a variety of possible explanations.
The message: America is asleep (city shown at sunrise), time to wake up, the alarm is ready to ring (clock at 6:59 AM), time is running out (the new years eve and sports clock countdown), industrial America (the US flag on the crane), and Washington is in charge, you aren't (the view is from the back seat of car looking at Capitol building, someone else is steering). All in the first 5 seconds.
What else do you see?
Oh, common. You want me to watch that fuking thing again?
It is very highly polished iconography. No question.
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fuck
here we go again
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there are numerous representations of the flag, patriotism, there is the view of the capital, again from the back seat, you aren't in control, a huge pile of coal, hundreds of rail cars lined up - we've got work to do, at least two forms of imagery of electric light as the sun goes down, what if the power goes out
positive images: mom and child, man on bike, the [black] laborer, the [white female scientist] plus the numerous representations of the flag are all appeals on the basis of association, designed to convince the viewer that clean coal has something in common with all of these other themes, interests, demographics.
I support carbon capture, or, the zero emissions boiler.
Yeah, carbon is not this issue with coal. All heat dependent energy produces carbon except for nuclear which produces way worse. The problem with coal is all of the other byproducts like mercury, sulfuric acid, ect... Your carbon landfill fill is no answer for that.
Well, then what about zero emissions boilers?
did you ever make a potato battery in school? Did you know the telegraph was initially powered by rods of metal stuck into the dirt? Did you know that boats ride on top of an open battery? We pay for energy when it's free, everywhere, all the time. We are being sold our own shirts. If this sounds a little nuts, I agree.
"Researchers use the ocean to recharge their batteries"
While all of this is true.... most of us will not see a coal or crude free world in our lifetime; in the meantime we need energy, and we need a lot of it.
It's either that or we regress five hundred years, or more, since we no longer recall past technology.
Power this with the tech I linked to in my previous comment, BAM, a revolution in water vehicle propulsion (barges, industrial shipping) and the next energy related boom for the economy. All it takes is one of these many ideas floating around to meet the right entrepreneur and we may see it sooner than you think.
I'm hoping we do see it sooner; in fact, I am quite certain we will see some of it sooner - but in my lifetime, I will never see NYC powered entirely with alternative energy. In rural areas the price of fuel oil is rapidly deforesting the viewscape; I don't like it.